Our work in Bangladesh

Since joining the Better Than Cash Alliance in 2015, Bangladesh has made great strides in advancing responsible digital payments. This has particularly been beneficial for women, who make up a significant portion of social commerce entrepreneurs, where digital payments play an instrumental role.

Key milestones include the participation of Bangladeshi government officials in peer exchanges held in India and Brazil to learn about digitizing Government-to-Person (G2P) payments and last-mile conditional cash transfers. Additionally, during the Bangladesh Digital Wages Summit in 2019, a commitment was made to digitize wages for 90% of garment workers by 2021. This was a significant step forward which significantly advanced financial inclusion for women in the country.

The Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 highlights a remarkable increase in digital financial account access, driven by the growth of branchless banking and Mobile Financial Services (MFS). These innovations have brought full-service retail banking to rural citizens across Bangladesh, with MFS expanding its client base to over 100 million. This expansion underscores the transformative impact of digital financial services on financial inclusion and economic resilience.

The Alliance Secretariat continues to facilitate the responsible transition of digital payments for merchants, promote inclusive digital payments for emergency response and climate resilience, and foster continuous learning exchanges to drive growth and inclusion.

For more detailed insights, explore our two-pager on how the partnership between the Government of Bangladesh and the Better Than Cash Alliance Secretariat can further scale digital payments, contributing to the country’s vision of becoming a middle-income nation.

For more information on our work in Bangladesh, please email Prerna Saxena, Head of Asia Pacific : prerna.saxena@uncdf.org