Govt to privatise Nagad

The government has decided to privatise mobile financial service (MFS) provider Nagad to increase competition in the sector, said Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Ahsan H Mansur.

"We want to create more activity and competition in the MFS sector. We have decided to privatise Nagad at the highest level and bring in investors," he said.

He was speaking at the "Cashless Bangladesh Summit 2025", jointly organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and Mastercard at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka in the capital yesterday.

"We will probably issue an advertisement seeking potential investors for this within a week," he added.

Mansur said Nagad will be taken out of the Post Office's control as it currently lacks the capacity to run the service.

"A technology company has to be brought in as the major shareholder of Nagad," he said.

"We hope we can rejuvenate Nagad as a worthy competitor in the MFS sector," he further said.

The governor also said that significant reforms have already been implemented in Nagad.

The various irregularities caused by the previous owners have been resolved.

Nearly 15 million fake or inactive accounts have been removed, and the institution is now on the path to restructuring, he added.