MFS to charge workers 0.4 percent cash out fee for wages amid coronavirus shutdown

Workers will pay a reduced fee of Tk 4 to cash out every Tk 1,000 of their salary using the mobile financial service under the government’s aid programme amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Bangladesh Bank sent out a circular announcing the  service fee cut on Thursday.

The brief read the mobile financial services (MFS) can charge Tk 8 for every Tk1000 as cashout fee on the salaries and wages of the workers.

Of the fee, Tk 4 will be deducted from the recipient of the wage and the rest from employees.

bKash, the leading mobile financial service in Bangladesh, charges Tk 18.50 for each Tk 10,000 cash out transaction, which drops to Tk 17.70 if done through the app.

Rocket, a Dutch-Bangla Bank service, and other such services charge similar fees. Apart from these, Bangladesh Directorate of Posts are currently charging Tk 10 for every Tk 1,000 cash transactions as opposed to Tk 14.50, their regular charge for the same amount.

“Our charge was originally lower, and we are setting it even lower than that now considering the present COVID-19 crisis,” Tanvir Ahmed Mishuk, Managing Director of Nagad, told bdnews24.com.

“We will follow instructions from Bangladesh Bank regarding the salary and wages of the workers and officials,” he said.

Nagad’s account opening services have remained operational for the apparel factory workers in line with the central bank orders,

Currently, the mobile financial services are not charging any fees for Tk 1,000 transaction in keeping with the government directives sent out on Mar 20.

According to the central bank instructions, the MFSs will provide the workers and officials with services for payment of salary and wages from the government’s special loan scheme.

Since the decision of paying wages through MFSs was made, a total of three million accounts were opened over the last 16 days. Among these, 1.4 million accounts were created on bKash and 800,000 on Rocket and Nagad each.