Dutch-Bangla Bank to launch 2000 new ATMs to woo rural clients

The Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited has decided to set up 2,000 ATMs this year to attract rural clients.

The target, once achieved, would help this bank of four million clients have over 4,700 ATMs, about 61 percent of such booths in Bangladesh. 

The bank’s Deputy Managing Director (DMD) Abul Kashem Mohammad Shirin said the bank board of directors had approved the plan.

Machines for the new booths had been ordered, he added. 

He also told bdnews24.com about an initiative to overhaul the bank’s cash department.

The pay structure for fresh recruits had been revised with effect from this month, he said.

Citing a BIBM survey, he said, Bangladesh had only five ATMs for every 100,000 people, whereas the number was 11 in India and 150 in the US. 

The Dutch-Bangla Bank currently caters to customer needs with 2,730 booths.

The bank will have to invest Tk 2 billion to set up 2,000 new booths with equipment from Germany and Hungary.

The DMD said most of these ATMs would be installed in rural areas. 

A large number of clients were being created through mobile and agent banking, and a large number of ATM booths were needed to support them, he said.

The ATM service has increased manifold in Bangladesh over the past two decades, having begun with just one booth in 1992.

At present, the total number of booths set up across the country by 56 banks is 5,661. The yearly transaction through these booths is about Tk 650 billion.

Besides cash withdrawals, ATM booths of eight percent of banks also offer cash deposit facilities.