Companies like Visa, MasterCard, and AMEX have taken away about 37 crore taka from the country in the last four years as Bangladesh has no 'National Payment Scheme' of its own. This year they will take approximately Tk12,92,86,300. If Bangladesh had its own payment scheme Bangladeshi banks did not have to depend on 'Traditional Payment Processing' and these card companies for online transactions. This money will remain in the country.
However, Visa, MasterCard, AMEX and other card companies do not take charges from the users directly. Rather charges are paid by the related companies who use POS to receive payments. Card companies charge different amounts in different types of transactions with debit and credit cards.
The concerned people say that the customers are being harmed by this. The vendor companies can adjust the charge by increasing the price of the product in this case.
The Visa or MasterCard are ATM Cards with online banking facility. These can be used in almost all types of ATM machines. As a result, these give facility to collect money from any ATM booth, even in abroad. The National Payment Scheme will also provide these facilities.
RuPay of India, SAMA of Saudi Arabia and Elo of Brazil are the national payment schemes of these countries. Bangladesh Bank also took initiatives to establish its own national payment scheme. But the process of it is running slowly.
According to Bangladesh bank sources, there are currently around 1,080,000 active credit cards in Bangladesh. In 2016 the amount was 9,00,000; in 2015 it was 7,60,000 and in 2013 it was 5,70,000.
On the other hand, the number of active debit cards is 10,570,000. In 2016 it was 93,60,00; in 2015 it was 86,00,000; in 2013 it was 80,06,000 and in 2013 it was 65,40,000.
According to the sources, while collecting money from an ATM booth of a bank using VISA, MasterCard or Amex, Bangladesh bank and the bank of the related ATM booth cut charge directly for using national payment switch from the cardholder companies. Banks give charge separately for Visa, MasterCard or Amex card services. However, when the users of debit and credit card payments use a POS (Point of Sale) machine and pay online shopping bills, vendor companies (super shop, fast food, Supermall, payment of ticket bills etc.) pay the charges to the card users companies.
International payment services charge 0.3% of the purchase amount for each credit transaction on POS machines, and 0.1% for each debit transaction from the payment gateway companies. For online transactions via e-commerce platforms, the charges are even higher: 0.7% for credit cards and 0.3% for debit cards. As a result, a huge amount of money is going out of the country.
Country's first certified smart card industry professional (CSCIP) and adviser of South Korea-based smart card producing firm, Kona I, Khaliqdad Khan said ‘It necessary for Bangladesh to establish local national payment scheme of its own to stop the outward movement of a huge amount of revenue from the country.’
He said that to obtain the approval of Visa, Master Card or Amex certification from Visa or MasterCard is necessary. These certifications are renewed every year. In this process, a large amount of money goes out of the country. If the National Payment Scheme is launched, though it is not possible to stop this going out of money, it is possible to reduce the amount.
After reviewing related documents it is found that Visa, MasterCard, AMEX other card companies earned around Tk11,38,40,200 in 2016. In 2017 the amount is around Tk12,92,86,300. In 2015 it was Tk11,04,27,400. In 2014 it was around Tk8,46,52,800. And in 2013 it was around Tk6,11,59,000. If outflow of money from the country goes in this way e according to the document, in 2020 the amount will be Tk18,35,95,047.
According to Bangladesh Bank source, initiatives have been taken to formulate a policy on a national payment scheme. Under this policy, a ‘base platform’ will be created from Bangladesh Bank.
SM Rezaul Karim, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Bank's Payment System Division, said, ‘To imply this initiative, specifications are required. That's why chip-based specification will be done. To do this (National Payment Scheme) banks are to be coordinated. Then it will be possible to do the transaction using our channel.’
He said transaction cannot be done outside the country using national payment scheme. In that case, Visa or MasterCard is needed.
The concerned people say, a new debit card will be issued after the launch of the National Payment Scheme. There may be a logo like a Visa or a MasterCard on that. This card can be showed up while collecting money from the logo marked ATM machine or in POS machine while purchasing.
Ashish Chakraborty, chief operating officer of payment gateway system SSL Wireless, said, ‘Charges of different cards are cut through many types of calculations. As a result, it cannot be said how much the charge will be. However, it will be within from 2.5% to 3.5% per transaction. Bangladesh is not ready yet for this. We have not reached that phase. Because ATM cards have not reached to everyone’s hand. So it is not possible right now. It will be possible to launch the National Payment Scheme in the next five to 10 years. If it is launched now it will not work. We demand that we have digitalized our systems but actually we have not progressed that much. As a result, this will not bring any benefit right now.’
Gateway providers cut charges in every transaction through Visa, MasterCard or Amex. And Visa, MasterCard, Amex or other companies take this from the gateway providers.
Ashikul Alam Khan, Chief Executive Officer of the e-commerce company priyoshop.com said to the Bangla Tribune,‘ It is possible to make a purchase with a visa, master card etc from my company. Payment gateway companies charge us for each transaction. From the charges received by the payment gateway, concerned bank and the card companies take their shares. Different payment gateway companies and card companies charge different amounts. This varies from 2.5% to 3.5%.’
