The Bangladesh Bank yesterday set uniform rates on settling transactions through digital platforms of banks and other financial service providers as part of its effort to facilitate clients and merchants.

The new rates, which came into effect immediately, are for the online platforms of banks, mobile financial services, and payment service providers and operators that execute transactions through the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB).

In 2012, the central bank set up the NPSB with a view to attaining interoperability among banks and digital service providers for card-based and online retail transactions.

As per the new rules, banks can impose a maximum charge of Tk 10 on clients when they transfer funds between lenders under the internet banking fund transfer system.

A BB official said a good number of banks now charged more than Tk 10.

Some banks, however, have imposed less than Tk 10 or even zero for the transfer of the fund. They can follow their previous rule in the interest of clients.

The new rates will encourage people to embrace internet banking, the central banker said.

The BB also fixed a uniform rate for the settlement of transactions through point of sale (POS) devices.

Banks will be allowed to charge merchants a maximum of 1.6 per cent against the total transaction made by clients. Of the amount, banks, which own the POS devices, will share 1.1 percentage points with the lender that has issued cards.

Clients will have to count Tk 20 per transaction while withdrawing money through POS devices. Some banks have recently set up the terminal to help clients withdraw funds through the POS like they do with an automated teller machine (ATM).

The card issuers will provide the fee to the banks and the financial service providers that provide the services to clients.

Clients will have to pay Tk 20 to deposit money with banks through inter-bank ATMs.

In order to transfer funds from one lender to another through ATMs, clients will be charged Tk 10.

The central bank has also fixed the cost to settle transactions through Bangla QR (quick response) code, which is operated under personal retail accounts owned by micro-enterprises and underprivileged businesses.

The BB rolled out the interoperable QR code on January 6 to boost cashless transactions across the country, particularly in rural areas.

Bangla QR helps clients pay bills for goods and services through any mobile banking application, mobile financial service or payment service provider.

Banks can impose a maximum of 0.7 per cent on micro-merchants against the total transactions made by clients. Of the fee, the bank, which owns the POS terminal, will have to give 0.4 percentage points to the card-issuing bank.