Mobile financial service providers must inform customers about service charges: BB

From now on, mobile financial service providers have to inform their customers about the charges to be applicable for availing their services.

Bangladesh Bank issued the directives through a circular on Thursday as per Article 5.0 of the Bangladesh Mobile Financial Services (MFS) Regulations, 2018.

Currently, a number of MFS providers including bKash, MCash, Rocket, and UCash are operating across the country to transfer money and provide some other services through mobile phones. 

The central bank directives said that MFS operators have to properly inform their customers before providing any service about the type of service, the amount of service charge/charges and the list of service charges (Schedule of Charges).

Such service related information also has to be put on their websites and be displayed in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Customers have to be informed about any change in the charges through advance notification, it said.

BB also asked the MFS providers to launch campaign through newspapers, radio, TV, YouTube channels and social media like facebook, instagram, linkedin in order to avoid confusion about the charges and the tariff rates.

In every case, the service charges including value added tax (VAT) and the tariff must be mentioned in the publicity, said the BB.