BMPCA calls for lowered MFS charges

Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumer Association (BMPCA) President Mohiuddin Ahmed urged concerned authorities to take proper steps to run mobile financial services (MFS) hassle-free and lower the transaction charges.

At present, the MFS services are charging excessive transactions fees and are being run without any specific principles, he claimed during a phone conversation with The Business Post on Friday.

In this regard, BMPCA is going to hold a human chain programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday, demanding to put an end to the excessive MFS charges.

“Mobile banking companies are charging Tk 5 for using the ‘send money’ feature for the first time in a month, but they’re charging Tk 10 for the next time this feature is used, which is totally absurd,” Mohiuddin Ahmed said.

‘Send money’ is similar to sending a text, he claimed, therefore it may cost around Tk 0.9. However, as mobile banking services have some expenditure, they may charge up to Tk 2 for now.

“The more money we transact using a mobile banking service, the less they should charge. However, the exact opposite is happening. Their charge keeps increasing with the number of transactions,” he said.

The government had withdrawn fees from all sorts of services for sending money for a certain time due to the pandemic. But nowadays, the MFS services are charging as much as they want, BMPCA president told the business post.

“Bkash subscribers pay almost Tk 20 for transacting of Tk 1000. They are charged Tk 16 per Tk 1000 if they are registered with a single agent centre. It is a huge barrier to the flow of money,” he said.

“If it is possible to conduct transactions at a reduced rate from a single agent centre, why it is not possible in the case of every agent centre?” he asked.

“If Tk 10 is charged for sending money and Tk 20 for cashing out, that adds up to Tk 30, which is crushing the government’s dreams of cashless transactions,” Mohiuddin added.