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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has asked commercial banks to provide EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) services from all branches by December 31.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, issued a notification in this connection on Monday and asked the managing directors and chief executive officers of all scheduled banks for taking effective measures to build up public awareness about electronic-payment (e-payment) systems.
The banks have also been advised to take initiatives for providing internet-banking services to their customers’ level after ensuring necessary security.
Talking to BBN, a BB senior official said the central bank has taken the latest move aiming to facilitate the country’s overall business activities through encouraging the usage of electronic interbank payments.
He also said the BB gave more than seven months to the banks for installing all necessary software and hardware to prepare all bank branches across the country for providing such services to the clients.
Earlier on October 29, 2015, the central bank of Bangladesh formally launched the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system aiming to facilitate business activities across the country.
Under the RTGS system, any member-banks will be able to transfer minimum Tk 0.01 million to another bank instantly.
The RTGS can be defined as the continuous (real-time) settlement of fund transfers individually on an order-by-order basis (without netting).
‘Real time’ means the processing of instructions at the time they are received rather than at some later time. ‘Gross Settlement’ means the settlement of funds individually without netting with other transactions.
BBN/SSR/AD