Innovative fintech to aid remittance growth

Admittedly, in the post-autocracy dispensation, the volume of inward remittance has been demonstrating a steady rise as the expatriate workers are turning in greater numbers to official money transfer channels including banks and authorised digital platforms. The highest ever remittance receipt registered in the county's history in March 2025 at US$3.29 billion highlights this. They are avoiding informal routes like the so-called hundi or hawala to send their money home. Of course, offer of various benefits to use official channels has obviously played its part. However, one cannot also deny here the vital role played by the digital platforms which facilitated faster and more secure transfer of money to their recipients at affordable costs. Considering the ever-growing potential of the remittance sector, which at the moment is being supported by about 15 million expatriate workers operating from some 176 host countries, the local Mobile Financial Service (MFS) providers including bKash, Nagad, Rocket, Upay and Sure Cash have for understandable reasons been raising their stakes in the remittance sector.

In fact, with the advancement of technology, especially fintech, of which MFS is a particular application that uses mobile phones for banking, payments and money transfers, etc., is expected to come up with more innovative solutions so that its service is more inclusive and can reach a greater number of clients that include the unbanked and the least digitally literate. It would be worthwhile to note at this point the recent workshop titled, "Changing landscape and emerging potential of remittance in Bangladesh" organized by bKash, the country's leading MFS service provider, where different banks and Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) participated. Since expatriate workers are increasingly switching to low-cost, secure and instant money transfer options, the stakeholders at the workshop emphasized the importance of next-generation technologies and a coordinated service approach across the remittance ecosystem. In fact, meeting the remitters' actual needs to their satisfaction is the key to a robust remittance transfer regime functioning through legal channels. On this score, the agility of the government's policy measures capable of keeping pace with the evolving global practices is essential.

At the same time, the financial service providers would be required to enhance their collaborative efforts to create a congenial remittance ecosystem among all the stakeholders including MFS providers, banks and MTOs both foreign and local in order that their service is faster, cost-effective and interoperable. Of course, to ensure better remittance transfer experience, the importance of increased investment in a technology-based infrastructure cannot be overstated. This would facilitate introduction of advanced technology such as easy-to-use apps and secure online platforms. Notably, such technologies proritise user security as they use advanced encryption, better authentication options to verify user's identity such as the two-factor authentication (2FA) and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols and so on. Such tech-enabled services ensure better protection of remitters' funds and compliance with local and international financial regulations.

Also, the innovations enable the clients to keep tabs on their transactions through real-time tracking and instant updates. Use of innovative fintech tools not only makes the remitters and the recipients feel secure about their transactions, they also develop a sense of control on their transactions. However, technology alone is not the answer to the continued development and growth of the remittance sector. Neither would the prevailing overseas job providing arrangements, which cannot be termed jobseeker-friendly, automatically boost the remittance sectors' potential. The government should free the recruitment process from middlemen, hassles and unnecessary charges. As the country is lagging far behind its neighbours in remittance earning, it is time those seeking employment abroad are trained in such skills as have demand in overseas job markets. That would help expat workers become more competitive in the international job market. So, for the growth of a thriving remittance sector what is necessary is increased investment in human resource building as well as development of an advanced, supportive technological infrastructure.