Bangladesh Bank has drafted the Payment System Act 2015 with a provision of financial penalty or imprisonment for irregularities in running payment services like cheque clearing, ATM and point-of-sales transactions and mobile and agent banking.
The draft, which was made public for taking opinions, said that any entity would have to take prior approval from the central bank to conduct its operation as payment service provider.
The BB proposed that any person will face penalty worth Tk 5 lakh or a three-year rigorous imprisonment on the case-to-case basis due to violation of the act.
Besides, the central bank will suspend and remove the alleged officials of the banks, non-bank financial institutions and payment service providers from their jobs if they violate the act.
A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the central bank will place the draft before the ministry of finance after including the recommendations and suggestions of the stakeholders and clients with the proposed act.
The BB will take into consideration the suggestions which will play role in strengthening the proposed act, he said.
The country’s payment system is now being operated by the central bank’s regulations, circulars and guidelines, he said.
‘The payment system has entered in a diversified zone after introducing the National Payment Switch and Bangladesh Automated Clearing House. The BB will introduce Real-time Gross Settlement system in the shortest possible time which will more diversify the payment system,’ he said.
For this reason, the BB has taken initiative to make an act for the payment system, he said.
The country’s payment system recently faced a number of fraudulent acts like cheque and credit card forgery which may decrease the confidence of the clients if such type of incidents continued.
The fraudulent acts in the payment system will decrease as the scamsters will have to face penalty and rigorous imprisonment in line with the act, he said.
According to the proposed act, scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions, which are maintaining their current account with the central bank, will not require to take licence from the BB to act as payment service provider.
But other entities will have to submit adequate capital to the central bank if they operate as a payment service provider.
The payment service providers will be allowed to settle financial transactions among the clients.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to take prior permission from the central bank if they want to settle their required tasks through the outsourcing agencies.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to follow Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 and Anti-terrorism Act- 2012 to tackle the money laundering and terrorist financing.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to inform to their agents, which will be recruited to settle the financial transactions like mobile banking or other services, before at least seven days if they (banks, NBFIs and payment service providers) want to withdraw their activities as agents.
The draft, which was made public for taking opinions, said that any entity would have to take prior approval from the central bank to conduct its operation as payment service provider.
The BB proposed that any person will face penalty worth Tk 5 lakh or a three-year rigorous imprisonment on the case-to-case basis due to violation of the act.
Besides, the central bank will suspend and remove the alleged officials of the banks, non-bank financial institutions and payment service providers from their jobs if they violate the act.
A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the central bank will place the draft before the ministry of finance after including the recommendations and suggestions of the stakeholders and clients with the proposed act.
The BB will take into consideration the suggestions which will play role in strengthening the proposed act, he said.
The country’s payment system is now being operated by the central bank’s regulations, circulars and guidelines, he said.
‘The payment system has entered in a diversified zone after introducing the National Payment Switch and Bangladesh Automated Clearing House. The BB will introduce Real-time Gross Settlement system in the shortest possible time which will more diversify the payment system,’ he said.
For this reason, the BB has taken initiative to make an act for the payment system, he said.
The country’s payment system recently faced a number of fraudulent acts like cheque and credit card forgery which may decrease the confidence of the clients if such type of incidents continued.
The fraudulent acts in the payment system will decrease as the scamsters will have to face penalty and rigorous imprisonment in line with the act, he said.
According to the proposed act, scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions, which are maintaining their current account with the central bank, will not require to take licence from the BB to act as payment service provider.
But other entities will have to submit adequate capital to the central bank if they operate as a payment service provider.
The payment service providers will be allowed to settle financial transactions among the clients.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to take prior permission from the central bank if they want to settle their required tasks through the outsourcing agencies.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to follow Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 and Anti-terrorism Act- 2012 to tackle the money laundering and terrorist financing.
The banks, NBFIs and payment service providers will have to inform to their agents, which will be recruited to settle the financial transactions like mobile banking or other services, before at least seven days if they (banks, NBFIs and payment service providers) want to withdraw their activities as agents.
Source: New Age
