Card transactions fall by Tk849 crore in August

Transactions through various cards in August fell by Tk849 crore or over 3% compared to that in July but transactions through credit card has increased a little during the same period.

People chose traditional in-person banking instead of card transactions following the improved condition of the Covid-19 situation in the country, which caused card transactions to drop, says experts.

During lockdown and various restrictions amid the epidemic, people inclined towards digital transactions to get rid of the virus infection.

The transaction through debit, credit and pre-paid card transactions dropped to Tk22,958 crore in August from Tk23,660 in July, reads Issued Cards and Transaction Statistics of the Bangladesh Bank.

In July, debit card transactions stood at Tk21.783 crore, which dropped to Tk20,934 crore in August. Besides, credit card transactions in August stood at Tk1,678 crore, down from Tk1,486 crore in July.

Apart from this, prepaid card transactions decreased by Tk47 crore in August as compared to July. However, credit card transactions witness a rise by Tk188 in August compared to the previous month.

Meanwhile, a report of the central bank issued earlier says the number of transactions through Mobile Financial Services (MFS) decreased by more than 6% in August although many new customers were added in the last year amid the Covid-19 epidemic.

In July, the number of MFS transactions was Tk66,387 crore, which decreased by Tk4,153 crore to Tk62,230 crore in August, says updated MFS data for August provided by the Bangladesh Bank.

Experts said customers used to prefer MFS over going to banks to avoid infection of the virus amid the epidemic. Besides, the central bank provided some special facilities amid the epidemic, for example, no limit on transactions and reducing transaction fees, to popularise mobile banking services among customers.

As the overall Covid-19 situation has improved in the country, customers have started taking services directly from the banks again. Apart from that, remittance inflow has slowed down after revoking the special facilities.

Despite the drop in transactions, the number of subscribers and active accounts increased by 1.6%, compared to the previous month, to 10,43,64,408 in August. The information on Nagad has not been included in the data.

According to the Bangladesh Bank, the total number of cards issued by the banks till August this year is 2,66,33,000, which was 2,22,07,833 in the same month of the previous year, an increase of 43.54 lakh.