Experts discuss development of fintech law, policy in Bangladesh
Experts in a webinar on Tuesday discussed the development of fintech legislation and policy in Bangladesh and outlined the practical challenges involved in the process.
The discussion took place at the eighth installment of the Academy of Law and Policy (ALAP) webinar series “Evolution of Fintech: Law and Policy in Bangladesh”, a media statement said.
The webinar was streamed live from ALAP and Dhaka Tribune’s relevant Facebook pages.
The webinar started with the keynote presentation by Nauriin Ahmed, lawyer and senior associate at Legal Circle.
The distinguished panelists were Mr Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, and Major General Sheikh Md Monirul Islam, Head of External and Business Affairs at bKash Limited.
The keynote address laid out the general regulations governing the fintech ecosystem in Bangladesh and the future changes to come.
During the panel discussion, Mr Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank said, “The concept of fintech continues to change with the change of time and technology.”
Ahmed Jamal further emphasized the central bank’s view of fintech activism and how the central bank as a regulatory authority can work with fintech stakeholders to bring forward new technology and ensure financial inclusion in Bangladesh.
He further pointed out that artificial intelligence is now considered a driving force for fintech in the current context, as technology helps facilitate financial intermediation, payments and all other processes related to fintech;
Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia agreed with Ahmed Jamal’s view regarding the constant emergence and praised the innovation and growth of fintech in India and highlighted few regulatory models for fintech governance.
She said, “Now with mobile payments, QR code based payments or UPI (United Payment Interface) which is the largest digital payment infrastructure through these payments can be done within 10 seconds now.”
She also discussed digital lending and stated that fintech-enabled lending has opened up new opportunities for credit access in India.
Finally, Major General Munir discussed how bKash has led the fintech evolution in Bangladesh and how it worked simultaneously with the regulatory body from the start to create a fintech-friendly industry. He further elaborated on the data protection mechanism and competition framework for fintechs in Bangladesh.
The webinar was moderated by Barrister Anita Ghazi Rahman, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Founder and Managing Partner at The Legal Circle, Founder Trustee and Director of Communications, ALAP.
ALAP is an independent, non-political, non-profit platform with the main objective of bringing together leading lawyers, industry leaders and development partners to discuss current legal and political issues and challenges facing Bangladesh, to research these issues, to formulate concrete legal and policy reform proposals to be presented to decision-makers, to engage in advocacy and to spread knowledge.
As ALAP’s first initiative, it launched a legal webinar series that includes thought-provoking addresses and discussions on legal and policy issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.
