 | Most banks not yet ready for e-commerce online payment
14 November, 2009
A week after Bangladesh Bank jump-started e-commerce and online payment system in the country; local IT giants and their banking counterparts remain sceptical about its immediate feasibility and long-term security implications.
Industry insiders are all but convinced that at least two thirds of the country's banking institutions are not ready to comply with Bangladesh Bank's latest directive towards e-payment and money transferring scheme and are not set to be prepared for the rapid shift within the next two years.
The central bank in a circular issued on November 2 asked all the commercial banks to introduce online payment systems facilitating fund transfers and payment of utility bills on the internet while permitting the credit card transaction in local currency.
It has also been reported that the banks have been given a timeframe of six to eight months to comply with these new set of directives as they are expected to be operational by the start of the next fiscal year.
The move has been perceived by some quarters to be a great leap forward towards the introduction of e-commerce in the country, which has been thought to revolutionise the country's banking as well as IT sector.
However, local IT giants with extensive experience in banking automation are not so enthusiastic, warning that the actual path towards full scale e-commerce might prove difficult than thought before and in the long run may result in 'digital divide' within the country's banking scenario.
They said that apart from a handful of top multinational and local financiers, the new directives are likely to be a burden for majority of the country's banks and financial institutions due to lack of adequate infrastructure and regulatory framework.
"What our experience shows is that it takes at least 24 months to make an average bank ready for true Internet banking", said M Manjur Mahmud, Chief Executive Officer of Data Soft, a leading IT company with extensive experience in banking automation.
Release link:http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=84331
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