Economic Desk:
Nagad to be sent to private
Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur said that the government has decided to transfer the mobile financial services (MFS) service provider Nagad to the private sector. A notification will be issued within the next week to find investors for the company.
The Governor said these things while speaking as the chief guest at the ‘Cashless Bangladesh Summit 2025’ jointly organized by ICMAB and MasterCard at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Wednesday (August 27).
Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur said, ‘When it comes to MFS, unfortunately we still have only one big institution. Efforts are being made to create more activities, competition and new investments in this sector. For this reason, a decision has been made to transfer Nagad to the private sector and bring in investment.’ Talking about removing Nagad from the control of the Postal Department, the Governor said that they do not currently have the capacity to operate this service. A technology company should be brought in as the main shareholder in Nagad.
Nagad to be sent to private
The Governor also said that major amendments have already been made to Nagad. The problems related to various irregularities related to EOC due to the previous owners have been resolved. About 15 million fake or invalid accounts have been eliminated and the company is on the path of restructuring. However, Ahsan H. Mansur said that strategic investors are needed for investment in the technology sector, saying, “Now we need an institution like bKash that can invest in Nagad step by step, holding shares. Hopefully, Nagad will be revived as a worthy competitor.”
The event was addressed by National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, Finance Secretary Khairuzzaman Majumder, City Bank PLC Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masrur Arefin, among others.
