Despite 57% of Bangladesh’s population remaining outside the formal financial system, the country is witnessing significant growth in digital financial services through mobile financial services (MFS) providers like bKash, according to the “State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025” by GSMA.
Globally, mobile money providers processed $4.6 billion in daily transactions in 2024 via 2.1 billion mobile money accounts. Bangladesh alone accounted for approximately 8.61% of these daily transactions, with an average of Tk4,833 crore (around $396 million) processed daily through MFS accounts, per Bangladesh Bank data.
Bangladesh holds about 238.68 million mobile money accounts, representing 11.36% of global accounts as of December 2024.
Key growth highlights include:
- The share of Bangladeshi customers using mobile money for loans doubled from 7% in 2023 to 14% in 2024. Since launching digital loans in 2021, bKash has issued over 5.5 million loans totaling Tk2,800 crore to about 1 million customers.
- Usage of mobile money for transfers into savings accounts also rose from 7% to 14% in 2024, with more than 3.2 million deposits made through bKash’s savings products developed in partnership with banks and NBFIs.
- Insurance payments via mobile money platforms increased to 10% of users in 2024, up from 4% the prior year, expanding coverage even in remote areas through bKash’s digital insurance services launched in 2021.
bKash plays a pivotal role in positioning Bangladesh as a global leader in mobile money. Although Bangladesh constitutes just 2.19% of the world’s population, bKash accounts for 3.8% of global mobile money users and manages 3.5% of worldwide MFS agents.
This growth underscores Bangladesh’s innovation capacity and highlights its strong impact on advancing financial inclusion globally despite ongoing challenges.
