Investors will get the scope to obtain membership of trade bodies and open bank accounts online soon using the virtual One-Stop Service (OSS) run by an investment-promotion agency in the country.
To this effect, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) signed five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with two trade bodies and three banks at a ceremony held at its headquarters in the city's Agargaon area on Sunday.
The trade bodies and banks are Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Eastern Bank Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh and Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, a statement said.
BIDA Executive Chairman Sirazul Islam attended the ceremony as the chief guest with its Executive Member Mohsina Yasmin in the chair.
CCCI President Mahbubul Alam, FICCI President Rupali Chowdhury, MCCI President Nihad Kabir, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank Naser Ezaz Bijoy, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Eastern Bank Ahmed Shaheen, and DMD of Islami Bank JQM Habibullah, among others, were present at the ceremony.
As per the MoU, CCCI and FICCI will provide three services to the investors such as membership certificate issuance, membership certificate renewal, and certificate of origin while the private banks will provide online bank account opening service directly from OSS portal.
Speaking on the occasion, BIDA Chairman Sirazul Islam said local and foreign investors will get more services online which will ease their operations.
"BIDA has already signed MoUs with 30 organisations. And a total of 51 services of 16 organisations are being provided through OSS."
Since the launch of OSS in 2019, he said, it has been possible to provide nearly 25,000 services to investors using the virtual platform.
"We have added numerous services to the OSS platform, not only from the government entities but also from the private organisations," he added.
BIDA will integrate as many as 154 services from 35 agencies into its OSS platform with the support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The investment promotion agency started integrating such services into the virtual platform since January 2019.
