Dutch-Bangla Bank is the Best Digital Bank of Bangladesh

Dutch-Bangla Bank is the Best Digital Bank of Bangladesh

Dutch-Bangla Bank has been awarded as the Best Digital Bank in Bangladesh by Digital World exposition organized by the ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Access to Information (a2i) of the Prime Minister’s Office and Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) during 9-12 February, 2015. 

After receiving the award from Mr. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the Special Guest of the award giving program and ICT Adviser to the honorable Prime Minister on 12 Feb, 2015, the Chairman of the Bank Mr. Sayem Ahmed told that this prestigious award was a testament of Dutch-Bangla Bank's commitment to innovation and technology, which gives the unbanked population of Bangladesh access to financial and banking services. 

In the award giving program, Mr. AbulMaal A. Muhit, MP, the minister, Ministry of Finance was present as chief guest and Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, State Minister, ICT Division, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication & Information Technology chaired the occasion.

Dutch-Bangla Bank (DBBL) is a tech-savvy bank. It has implemented all most all the IT-based services for the first time in Bangladesh.

DBBL started real-time on-line banking in 2004. Since then all of its branches are truly on-line. It has now 145 branches all over Bangladesh with more than 3.8 million customers.

It has started real-time Internet Banking for its clients in 2004. Using the Second Factor Authentication (2FA) security mechanism, the customers of DBBL can safely transfer money from his/her account to the account of another customer. They can also open and close FDR (term deposit) and SI (Standing Instruction) on real-time basis through Internet Banking. DBBL introduced 2FA for the first time in Bangladesh.

DBBL installed its first ATM in 2004. Now DBBL has more than 2,700 ATMs throughout the country. There are around 2,700 additional ATMs in Bangladesh installed by all other banks. DBBL has upgraded its ATMs to read EMV card in 2008.

DBBL rolled out POS terminals in the merchant locations in 2004. Now the number of POS terminals installed is more than 8,000. All most all the renowned merchants and hotels are equipped with a DBBL POS terminal. The total number of POS terminals in Bangladesh is around 20,000. DBBL has upgraded its POS terminals to read EMV card in 2008.

DBBL brings EMV technology for the first time in Bangladesh.

DBBL launched NEXUS debit card in 2004. DBBL has so far distributed more than 3.8 million debit cards among its clients. In Bangladesh there are a total of 7.2 million debit cards.

Since 2004, DBBL is providing sms and alert banking service to its clients. This is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. After each transactions clients get sms notification.

DBBL launched chip-based EMV credit card for the first time in Bangladesh in 2009. As the card’s sensitive data is stored in acomputer micro-chip, the EMV card is a most secured card in the world. The EMV card is the only accepted card anywhere in the world without any question.

In 2009, DBBL setup a state of the art Call Center which is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. By a dial to“16216”, the customers can avail a range of services. Emergency services includes reporting of lost card, recovery of forgotten PIN of debit card or mobile banking, claiming non-dispense of money at ATM, and balance enquiry.

In 2010, DBBL launched Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) for the first time in Bangladesh. The IPG is used by the e-commerce merchants for settlement of payment. A few hundreds of renowned e-commerce business houses use DBBL’s IPG. DBBL, using the IGP, collect money from the buyer’s cards account and pay to the merchant’s account against sale of its goods or services. Any card either local or foreign, MasterCard or Visa, Debit or Credit, are accepted in the IPG of DBBL.

In 2011, DBBL launched Mobile Banking for the first time in Bangladesh. The present number of Mobile Banking customers is 4.0 million. This is in addition to 3.8 million core banking clients. “All of our Mobile Banking Clients are genuine, they have proper KYC (Know Your Customer), correct National ID (NID) and picture” said Mr. K.S. Tabrez, managing director of DBBL. As such all the customers of DBBL are traceable, and if involved in criminal activities, they can be caught easily, he added.

“DBBL has been constantly running awareness program for its mobile banking customers through various TV channels to open account and to transact using their own account, not the personal account of the Agents” he said.

DBBL’s mobile banking has earned confidence and trust among the genuine customers who value security for their money. Due to a “Check Digit” in the mobile account number, money do not go to a wrong account while depositing or transferring. Three factors - SIM, PIN and Check-digit made the mobile banking account of DBBL secured. Proper KYC and prevention of sending money using the personal account of the Agents made the mobile accounts of DBBL even more secured.

“We have more than 800 field force in our payroll working all over the country in order to ensure KYC of the mobile banking accountholders i.e., to ensure name, parent’s name, address, photo, signature and NID of the new customers” said AbulKashem Md. Shirin, deputy managing director of DBBL.

Our state-of-the-art technology, high-level of security and hundred percent compliance across all the systems made us Best Digital Bank of Bangladesh, he added.

“We would like to over heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh, ICT Ministry, Bangladesh Bank, BASIS, Digital World, our clients and well-wishers. Their support has helped Dutch-Bangla Bank's pursuit to offer modern banking services for everyone in Bangladesh” the Chairman of the Bank said.