Rezaul Hossain joins upay as new MD and CEO

UCB Fintech Company Limited, which offers mobile financial services under the brand name upay, has appointed Rezaul Hossain as its managing director and chief executive officer.

The company, a subsidiary of United Commercial Bank, announced the move in a statement on Sunday.

A veteran in telecoms and mobile financial service industry, Rezaul boasts of more than 26 years of experience in sales, marketing, products, and distributions.

He has also worked for many top local and multinational companies, including Grameenphone, Citycell, Airtel and bKash, while playing an instrumental role in shaping the ever evolving telecommunications and financial technology landscape in the country though his "dynamic leadership", the company said.

Prior to joining upay, Rezaul had been involved with several enterprises, including Nagad, a Bangladesh Post Office-backed digital financial service startup which he had co-founded in 2018.

Previously, Rezaul led the commercial division of bKash from 2011 to 2017 as the Chief Commercial Officer, helping the company grow into the largest mobile financial service provider in the world based on number of subscribers, agents and transactions.

Commenting on the appointment, Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, chairman of UCB Fintech, said, “The board is delighted to welcome Rezaul Hossain to upay and we look forward to stand beside him to bring upay to a different height."

"Rezaul Hossain is a highly accomplished business leader and brings a wealth of skills and experience that will take us to our strategic goal in becoming one of the leading mobile financial service companies of Bangladesh."

Rezaul expressed happiness at joining upay and said, "Despite being a new financial service brand, I believe upay has a huge potential to disrupt the market. As I have a long vision for the advancement of the country's financial technology sector, I would like to dedicate my experience, expertise and industry knowledge to help upay grow and reach its full potential through bringing delightful experiences to our customers."

upay launched its commercial operation in March 2021 after securing an MFS licence from Bangladesh Bank in December 2020. Since its inception, the company has acquired around 4 million customers and has more than 100,000 agent points across the country.