Deal signed for Bangladesh's first 'Digital Islami Wallet'
Financial technology service provider Dmoney signed an agreement with Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited at the latter's head office in Dhaka yesterday to launch the country's first "Digital Islami Wallet".
"This is the first time an Islami Wallet is being introduced by a bank adding new dimensions to the existing banking services and expanding scopes for broader financial inclusion of the unbanked people," said a statement from Dmoney and the bank.
"The Islami wallet will enable the bank to extend its service perimeter and reach out to more subscribers," it said.
The partnership will help the bank provide payment services on utility bills, merchant, tuition fee, near field communication (NFC), quick response (QR) and insurance premium.
Other services include cash in/cash out, mobile airtime top-up, mobile wallet money transfer, bank account and third-party software integration, cash withdrawal from bank accounts, charity and donation and international remittance.
"In Bangladesh we have a huge Sharia base of customers and our mission is to cater to the needs of these customers, addressing their demands," said Anjan Chowdhury, chairman of Dmoney.
"Dmoney aims to focus in three areas: inclusion - leaving no one behind from unbanked to religious, digitisation from government to ordinary citizens and empowerment from urban to rural," said Chowdhury.
"Dmoney is a Bangladeshi company and our robust software is made in Bangladesh by Bangladeshis."
Abdus Samad, the banks chairman, said, "The signing comes as part of Al Arafah Islami Bank's plans to extend its services, collect new deposits, and integrate with a modern banking system."
"Dmoney's expertise and experience in handling mobile apps, social network, web portal, card processing, POS, NFC and QR payments will help us serve our subscribers even better," he said.
Speaking about the agreement, Sonia Bashir Kabir, co-founder and vice chairman of Dmoney, said, "Digital can be Shariah compliant and Islamic finance is a fertile ground for fintech. One of the most vital benefits of Islamic finance is inclusion and a digital strategy enables it."
"Digital evolution/innovation is critical to Islamic finance to meet the unmet and unarticulated needs of Shariah customers."
"As we invite and work with member banks to grow this network, it will usher a new phase in payments digitisation and scale and opportunities to serve the customer," said Aref Bashir, co-founder and managing director of Dmoney.
Md Habibur Rahman, the bank's managing director, and Syed Masodul Bari, executive vice president, were present.
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