In 2024, digital transactions in Bangladesh, which include payments made through mobile wallets, internet banking, and other electronic channels, saw an increase in volume. However, their overall share of total payments decreased, as highlighted in the Bangladesh Payment Systems Report 2024 published by Bangladesh Bank.
The report indicated that traditional non-digital payments are growing at a faster rate than digital channels, with mobile financial services (MFS) experiencing a decline in transactions. The data from Bangladesh Bank revealed that the number of digital transactions rose from 36.67 crore in December 2023 to 40.31 crore in December 2024. Despite this growth, the proportion of digital payments in all transactions decreased from 51 percent to 47 percent.
In terms of transaction value, the total value of digital transactions saw a slight increase from Tk 75,140 crore to Tk 76,340 crore. However, the share of digital transactions in the total transaction value declined from 29 percent to 28 percent. This shift was influenced significantly by changes in behavior within the MFS sector, which plays a crucial role in the digital finance landscape of the country.
The report highlighted a notable decrease in the share of MFS-based digital transactions, with their volume share dropping from 46.82 percent to 40.99 percent, and their value share slightly decreasing from 2.37 percent to 2.36 percent of all transactions. Bangladesh Bank attributed this trend to a growing preference for cash-out services over purely digital transfers within the MFS ecosystem.
Conversely, non-digital payments experienced growth in both transaction volume and value. The number of non-digital transactions increased by 31.4 percent from 34.62 crore in December 2023 to 45.49 crore in December 2024, with their share of total transaction value rising from 71 percent to 72 percent.
While digital channels were commonly used for small and frequent payments, larger-value transactions continued to rely on cash, cheques, and over-the-counter methods. Notwithstanding these changes, certain digital platforms showed robust growth, with Internet Banking Fund Transfer (IBFT) emerging as the primary mode under the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB), constituting 80 percent of the system’s transaction value according to the BB report.
The report also highlighted regulatory advancements in 2024, such as the enactment of the Payment and Settlement System Act, 2024, which strengthens the legal framework for the payment ecosystem, and the introduction of TakaPay, the first domestic card scheme in the country. It emphasized the need for strategic interventions to address the resurgence of traditional payments and reliance on cash, urging the migration of significant institutional and government transactions to digital platforms to progress towards a less-cash economy.
Moreover, the Bangla QR system, widely utilized in universities, hospitals, and digital cattle markets, experienced significant growth, with transaction volume increasing by 104 percent and transaction value by 69 percent. In conclusion, the payment ecosystem in Bangladesh in 2024 witnessed substantial regulatory, infrastructural, and supervisory developments aimed at nurturing a secure, efficient, and inclusive digital financial system.