Bangladesh enforces e-KYC guidelines for financial institutions

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has introduced e-KYC guidelines to provide individuals with a better, faster experience when interacting with financial institutions in the country, writes New Age Business.

The guidelines are applied under the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2012 and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2009. By December 2020, all financial institutions in the region, including banks, non-bank financial institutions, insurance companies, capital market intermediaries, MFS, DFS and the other companies licensed by the Bangladesh Bank, must comply and apply the guidelines.

By simplifying the e-KYC process, mobile financial services, payment service providers and operators and fintech companies would be included.

As defined by the BFIU, under the e-KYC process, the customer onboarding process lets the institution open a customer account by filling in a digital form, taking a photo, and authenticating the person’s identification data, the publication explains.

Based on risk exposure, two classifications were made: simplified e-KYC and regular e-KYC.

By encouraging digital financial products and services, and digital identity solutions, there could be great benefits in promoting access to basic services for people and businesses in emerging and developing countries. Not only would these guidelines promote fintech, but they would help reduce costs and speed up financial inclusion growth, the guidelines read.

Simplified e-KYC would allow banks offer banking products such as deposits and withdrawals within a limit of Tk 1 lakh (USD$1,000), term deposits stopping at Tk 10 lakh (USD$11,000) and other products, p to while non-banking financial institutions will be restricted to products up to Tk 10 lakh (USD$11,000)

The e-KYC guidelines specify that even though an account is closed, all information collected has to be stored for five years after that date.

Article Topics

Bangladesh  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  financial inclusion  |  financial services  |  KYC