Banks have got one more year from the central bank to connect their point-of-sales (POS) terminals to the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB).
Under the revised regulations, the banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) are allowed to connect their terminals to the NPSB by December 31, 2019 instead of December 31, 2018.
According to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) notification issued on Wednesday, all member banks have also been asked to use the NPSB for all inter-bank card transactions using POS terminals within the timeframe.
"We've extended the time limit considering the overall market situation," a senior BB official told the FE.
The central banker said the BB has planned to introduce 'QR Code' to facilitate inter-bank electronic transactions.
Talking to the FE, another BB official said 55 out of 57 commercial banks are connected with the NPSB system.
"No NBFI is yet to be the member of the NPSB system," the official added.
Earlier on December 27, 2012, the BB formally opened the national payment switch aimed at facilitating economic growth through expansion of business activities.
The NPSB's key objective is to create a common platform for payments originating from different delivery channels and existing shared switches in order to facilitate inter-bank transactions.
