Tarana plans ‘Post Office Bank’ to bring dynamism into postal services

The government is planning a ‘Post Office Bank’ to bring dynamism into postal services and take the services to the grassroots level, Tarana Halim has said.

She revealed the plan, speaking to bdnews24.com after a meeting at the General Post Office (GPO) in Dhaka on Thursday.

The state minister for posts and telecommunications said the approval for the bank would be discussed in a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith on June 26.

She said she would seek permission to launch a microcredit service using Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) services of the post offices.

“Microcredit will reach the marginal level if we introduce it in post offices,” she said.

The minister said the ‘Post Office Bank’ plan mainly aims to provide banking services to the people outside the banking radar.

“We have 9,886 post offices...even in the remote areas. It cannot be imagined in any private sector,” she said.

“The people will be able to open savings accounts, submit and draw money easily once we launch the banking service at the post offices. Because the service will be at their doors,” Tarana said.

She said the post offices already have such services. “I want to expand them.”

The minister said the Bangladesh Post Office will bring in 118 vehicles within April to compete with the private couriers.

She said 20 percent of the drivers would be women.