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Bangladesh Bank (BB) has lowered the minimum age requirement to 14 years from 18 for applicants to open mobile financial services (MFS) accounts, such as bKash and Nagad.
The relaxation applies to those between the ages of 14 -18 who hold Bangladeshi nationality and whose parents, or legal guardians, also have Bangladeshi nationality, as per a BB circular issued on Tuesday.
To open the account, applicants need to provide their birth certificate and the National Identity Card number of their legal guardian.
As per the circular, the account will also be connected with the legal guardian's MFS account and the legal guardian's account will have to authenticate the account of the applicant.
Transfers to the account, or cash-ins, have to be done through the legal guardian's bank account, MFS account, card or e-wallet.
Agents or other MFS accounts cannot be used to enter cash into the applicant's account, unlike the traditional practice.
The account can be used to cash out, make person-to-person transfers, recharge mobile balances, pay utility bills and education fees, and make merchant payments.
The maximum transaction limit for cash-ins in such accounts has been reduced to Taka 5,000 daily and Taka 30,000 monthly.
A cash-in can be done a maximum of five times a day and ten times a month.
For cash-out, the limit is Taka 5,000 daily and Taka 25,000 monthly. It can also be done a maximum of five times a day and ten times a month.
For person-to-person transfers, the daily limit is Taka 5,000 and monthly is Taka 15,000, with the number of transactions remaining as above.
For any kind of payment, the daily limit is Taka 5,000 and monthly is Taka 20,000. These can be done three times a day at most and 10 times a month.
The accounts for 14 -18 year-old persons can have a maximum balance of Taka 30,000.
