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A three-day international workshop ended in the capital on Thursday, with a call for bringing more unbanked people under the banking network through expediting financial inclusion campaigns across the country.
The workshop of World Saving and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) titled 'Rural Financial Inclusion' held at a city hotel, hosted by Bank Asia Limited for the first time in Bangladesh.
S.M. Moniruzzaman, deputy governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), inaugurated the workshop on Tuesday as chief guest. The keynote speaker of the seminar was Mina Zhang, who is the Senior Advisor of WSBI.
The different challenges and opportunities of rural financial inclusion were addressed by the COP of Agricultural Value Chains Project of USAID, Paul Bundick and the Executive Director of Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM), Dr. Mustafa K Mujeri.
The event was chaired by Mohammed Arfan Ali, President and Managing Director of Bank Asia.
More than 50 banking leaders from nine countries throughout Asia took part the event to focus on widening more access to basic financial services for people living in rural areas, according to the organisers.
A silent revolution of financial inclusion has taken place in Bangladesh over the last decade, former BB governor Atiur Rahman said, while presenting a key note paper at the workshop on Wednesday.
"The central bank with prudent support from the government has spearheaded a comprehensive campaign to ensure sustainable and inclusive finance. And the early rewarding outcomes of this effort are visible," he said.
Talking to the FE, Mr Arfan Ali said: "We're proud of sharing Bank Asia's experience in rural finance with peers from the WSBI network."
He said the Bank Asia has tried to focus the financial inclusion initiatives of Bangladesh in the global arena through organising the workshop.