Bangladesh Post is a service oriented government organization working under Posts and Telecommunications Division, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology of Bangladesh. It is committed to provide a speedy & reliable postal service to people of all walks of life at a reasonable cost. It has been playing an important role in enhancing access to financial services in rural and remote areas of Bangladesh. In an ambitious drive to develop and provide innovative digital financial services, it launched Postal Cash Card. This service was inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 26 March 2010. It targeted at the unbanked population in rural and remote areas and has already gained considerable success. It is a prepaid card allowing customers to deposit, withdraw and transfer money (Card to Card), make purchases and utility bill payments. In 2012, Bangladesh Post started to establish Co-Branded ATM booths with collaboration of Sonali Bank Limited. 18,000 Point of Sale (PoS) has already been installed and another 32,000 PoS would be installed.

Postal Cash Card is relentlessly playing a crucial role in achieving Goal 1 and Goal 8 of TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

http://www.bdpost.gov.bd/site/page/3f85b1c5-c356-47a9-b55c-de1938dc6c76/-

• Bangladesh

• Youth
• Older persons
• Women
• People with disabilities
• The poor
• Remote and rural communities

The Postal cash card project is replicable. Bangladesh Post is disbursing different allowances of the Government to marginalized people included in social safety net through postal cash card. Besides postal cash card can also be used as a debit card to pay bills in different shopping centres/departmental stores. It can be used as a medium of payment of utility bills (namely-Gas, Water, Electricity, Telephone etc.). Postal cash card can also be used as a tool for different types of payment and financial benefits of the Government to the mass people. The allowances and financial benefits include widow allowance, senior citizen allowance, freedom fighter allowance, student fellowship, education allowance, agricultural loans & subsidies. All these activities of Postal Department are collectively playing a vital role in implementing digital strategies and solutions to significantly improve the service quality to citizens in a replicable manner in public service areas.

Postal Cash Card is a plastic card with magnetic strip. Users of Postal Cash Card have the opportunity to deposit, withdraw and transfer (card to card) money through ATM booths listed under fixed network and POS machine, fixed & mobile ATM booth of post offices located in all over Bangladesh. Geographical limitability will reduce i.e. Geographical mobility will increase among people as withdrawal of money in this system is easily available. It plays significant role in internal economy as well as in international economy. If use of this card increases in whole economy, nation will be benefited from greater transparency, fast delivery to the beneficiaries, increased efficiency & security, better planning, reduced pilferage & duplication, effective economic tool, increased tax base, reduced disbursement overhead cost etc.

Postal Cash Card service is a state of the art technology based digital financial service. This service ensures proper disbursement of mass people’s hard toiled money from one end to the other. There is no possibility of disbursing the money to the wrong receiver. This financial service is maintaining timely transaction, safety and security of the money. Postal Cash Card has become an emblem of trustworthiness, transparency and accountability. Thus this service is applying ICT to provide ethical and transparent government services to enhance integrity and social justice. This service substantially contributed to reduce the digital divide and manifests our dedication in nation building as well as capacity building through empowering the education and social entrepreneurship development in rural areas. It also plays a pivotal role in public health of citizens as women receive various type of assistance from using postal cash card in Community Clinics and Rural Health Centres. Its role can be extended to people of all walks of life especially rural people who find conventional banking system inconvenient. Thus Postal Cash Card can ensure more financial freedom and help driving country towards stability, prosperity and sustainability.