Prospects and Challenges of Mobile Banking in Bangladesh

Mobile banking is a subset of electronic banking which underlies not only the determinants of the banking business but also the special conditions of mobile commerce. Mobile banking (m-banking) is one of the emerging financial innovations introduced by financial service providers. This study evaluates the customer’s perspective of the adoption of m-banking in Bangladesh. Questionnaires were administered to customers of banks to obtain their perspective on m-banking. A sample of 50 customers selected at random was employed for this study. The customer’s perception was found to be overwhelmingly positive. The most appreciated feature was ubiquity and the overview over bank account. Fast reaction to market developments often cited as one of the most attractive feature of mobile banking did not find high appreciation. Several factors including technical and security standards, regulatory and supervisory issues and business and legal issues were found to be the main factors that might hinder mobile banking implementation in Bangladesh. Connectivity and secure communication platform and encrypted messaging system were found to be the factors that would enhance mobile banking implementation in Bangladesh.