Launching payments in Bangladesh: the stack

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Paying out in Bangladesh means a Bangladeshi bank with a Bangladesh Bank-approved drawing arrangement credits taka to a bank account or MFS wallet such as bKash or Nagad, with the sender funding either before disbursement (Pre-Fund) or after it (Post-Fund, reimbursed within T+2), and recipients through legal channels receiving a 2.5% government cash incentive. Cross-border payment companies typically connect through payout networks such as dLocal, TerraPay, Thunes or Nium, or directly to remittance banks such as Islami Bank and BRAC Bank, use NPSB and BEFTN for interbank credits, and cannot use crypto or stablecoin ramps, which Bangladesh Bank does not permit.

Currency	BDT
Local payout rails	BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network), NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh), BD-RTGS
Holiday calendar	Bangladesh bank holidays 2026 and 2027

The Bangladesh market

Bangladesh received US$33.88 billion in personal remittances in 2025, equal to 7.4% of GDP, up from US$27.52 billion in 2024 (World Bank data, last updated 8 October 2026). source
Workers' remittances reached US$35,589.4 million in FY2025-26 (provisional), up 17.3% from US$30,328.8 million in FY2024-25; Saudi Arabia (US$5,849.1 million), the United Kingdom (US$5,072.0 million) and the United Arab Emirates (US$4,583.9 million) were the top sources. source
Islami Bank Bangladesh received the most remittances in FY2025-26 (US$6,885.8 million), followed by Bangladesh Krishi Bank (US$4,100.7 million) and BRAC Bank (US$2,971.9 million). source
Bangladesh had 259,683,701 MFS accounts in August 2026, according to Bangladesh Bank's MFS statistics; Nagad's data submission resumed in March 2026 after a gap from March 2025. source
Sending SAR 750 from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh cost 10.20% on average in Q3 2025 (average fee SAR 36.73, exchange rate margin 5.30%), the latest quarter published on the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide. source
The FY2026-27 budget, presented on 11 June 2026, continues the existing 2.5% cash incentive for remittances sent through legal channels. source

Licensing: who can pay out in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank's Foreign Exchange Policy Department approves each drawing arrangement between an exchange house abroad and a bank in Bangladesh; foreign MTOs pay out through these bank tie-ups (Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions, Appendix 6). source
Since January 2025 drawing arrangements run in two modalities: Pre-Fund (formerly EFT), with its security deposit and minimum balance requirements withdrawn, and Post-Fund (formerly Pin-Code), which needs a Tk 2.00 million minimum balance in the exchange house's Non-Resident Taka account; the Draft Drawing modality was revoked. source
Under the Bangladesh MFS Regulations, 2022, MFS providers handle foreign inward remittances only when received through credits to the nostro accounts of scheduled commercial banks in Bangladesh, and pay them out only in taka to beneficiaries' MFS accounts. source
FE Circular Letter No. 03 of 19 January 2025 requires exchange houses to state the source currency, conversion rate and remitted taka amount in every disbursement instruction, and banks to show source currency, conversion rate, disbursed amount and cash incentive on the beneficiary's receipt, SMS or e-mail. source
Bangladesh Bank does not permit transactions in, from or to Bangladesh to obtain virtual assets or virtual currencies, or any facilitation of their exchange, transfer or trading, which it treats as a contravention of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (FE Circular No. 24, 15 September 2022). source

This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal or regulatory advice. Check the primary source and take advice on how the rules apply to your firm.

Payout rails in Bangladesh

Rail	Operator	What matters for payouts	Source
BEFTN (Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network)	Bangladesh Bank	Interbank credit and debit transfers, including foreign and domestic remittances and payroll, cleared in processing sessions and settled on a deferred net basis on banks' accounts at Bangladesh Bank; entries that fall on a weekend or holiday settle on the next business day.	source
NPSB (National Payment Switch Bangladesh)	Bangladesh Bank	Interbank switch for ATM, POS, QR, internet banking fund transfers (IBFT) and interoperable bank and MFS transfers. Individual IBFT is capped at Tk 3,00,000 per transaction and Tk 10,00,000 a day, and corporate IBFT at Tk 5,00,000 per transaction and Tk 25,00,000 a day; Bangladesh Bank removed the cap on the number of daily IBFT transactions in April 2022, and banks may set lower limits.	source
BD-RTGS	Bangladesh Bank	Real-time gross settlement launched in October 2015 for high-value transfers of Tk 1,00,000 or more between customers; government payments and inland foreign currency transactions (six currencies) have no minimum.	source

The Bangladesh payments stack, layer by layer

The providers below are a starting shortlist for each layer, described from their own documentation. Confirm terms, coverage and licences with each provider.

Payout and collection partners

Provider	What it does in Bangladesh	Source
dLocal · our guide	Payouts V3 pays BDT to bank accounts (account number, branch code, address and phone) and to bKash and Nagad wallets for B2C, B2B and P2P flows, identifying beneficiaries by their 17-digit National Identity Card number.	source
TerraPay · our guide	Its API lists bKash, Rocket and Nagad as Bangladesh wallet endpoints; for Bangladesh bank transactions only the NPSB scheme is allowed for quotes, and routing numbers are required.	source
Thunes · our guide	Its money transfer API pays BDT in Bangladesh to bank accounts over NPSB and BEFTN (BEFTN credits T+1 when sent before the bank cut-off), to mobile wallets and for cash pickup.	source
Nium · our guide	Pays BDT to all banks in Bangladesh same day between 07:30 and 22:00 local time, Sunday to Thursday, and to bKash and Rocket wallets in real time 24x7, up to BDT 50,000 per wallet payout.	source
BRAC Saajan	FCA-authorised payment institution offering money transfer operators and wallets a single API for payouts to Bangladesh by cash pickup, bank transfer, instant transfer and wallet transfer, built on its own correspondent banking partnerships.	source
bKash	MFS wallet endpoint: remittances reach bKash accounts through authorised and listed foreign banks, MTOs and exchange houses settling via banks in Bangladesh, and recipients through legal channels get the 2.5% government incentive.	source

Local banking and settlement accounts

Provider	What it does in Bangladesh	Source
Islami Bank Bangladesh	Has remittance drawing agency arrangements with 145 exchange houses, credits accounts centrally, pays other-bank remittances through BEFTN and offers an API service.	source
BRAC Bank	Added 11 exchange house partners in 2025 across Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, taking its remittance partners above 80, and works through its UK remittance provider BRAC Saajan Exchange.	source
Al-Arafah Islami Bank	Credits remittances from exchange houses and money transfer companies instantly or same day to its own accounts, same day to other banks through BEFTN, and instantly to bKash wallets; listed partners include MoneyGram, Western Union, Ria and TerraPay.	source

FX and liquidity

Provider	What it does in Bangladesh	Source
Bangladesh Bank reference rate	Bangladesh Bank publishes the Foreign Exchange Market Spot Reference Exchange Rate, a transaction-based weighted average of interbank and client-level USD/BDT spot deals of US$100,000 or more.	source
Bangladesh Bank FX auctions	Bangladesh Bank buys dollars from banks through FX auctions; its results page shows buy auctions at Tk 122.75 per US dollar in May and June 2026.	source
Market-based exchange rate (since May 2025)	In mid-May 2025 Bangladesh Bank introduced a crawling peg with a band, allowed banks to quote rates freely, committed to auction-based FX intervention and began publishing reference rates based on market transactions (IMF 2025 Article IV report).	source

KYC and KYB providers

Provider	What it does in Bangladesh	Source
Bangladesh Bank e-KYC Guidelines	Bangladesh Bank's updated Guidelines on Electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC), issued on 11 March 2026 by BRPD-1 Circular No. 08 and in force from 1 September 2026, apply to scheduled banks, finance companies, MFS providers, PSPs and PSOs.	source
Shufti	Verifies Bangladeshi NID and Smart NID cards and e-Passports, integrating Smart NID biometric data, and supports business documents such as RJSC certificates of incorporation, trade licences and TIN certificates.	source
Giga Tech (GIGA EKYC)	eKYC platform that ran Bangladesh's first eKYC pilot with BFIU and 10 financial institutions in October 2019 and is live at Islami Bank Bangladesh and IFIC Bank.	source

Funding and prefunding BDT payouts

Under the Post-Fund modality the Bangladeshi bank pays out taka first and takes reimbursement in foreign currency from its foreign counterpart within the time frame of their tie-up, not more than T+2 days; the Pre-Fund modality (formerly EFT) is the prefunded route. source
Bangladesh Bank's RTGS schedule from September 2025 runs customer taka transfers from 10:00 to 17:00 and interbank taka transfers to 17:15, with foreign currency transfers from 10:00 to 16:00 (customer) and 16:30 (interbank). source
Since September 2026 (FEPD-2 Circular No. 05), foreign currency remittances received through exchange houses and IMTOs can also be credited to Personal Foreign Currency and Non-resident Foreign Currency Deposit accounts. source

Size the prefund to your runway target with the corridor runway calculator and the Bangladesh holiday calendar.

Launch checklist

Plan: launch volume, the prefund sized to your runway target including weekends and holidays, the contracting entity and the funding route.
Open accounts: shortlist payout partners and a local banking route from the layers above, and prepare the onboarding pack.
Set up: read access to every new balance, a runway target with alerts, and the corridor in your daily reports.
Go live: the first prefund and a test payout, then daily monitoring.

Polynopsis turns this into one plan with named approvals, then shows every Bangladesh partner, bank and wallet in one live position. See how a corridor launch works.

Frequently asked questions

Do Bangladeshi recipients still get the 2.5% remittance incentive?

Yes. The FY2026-27 budget presented on 11 June 2026 continues the existing 2.5% cash incentive for remittances sent through legal channels.

Can a foreign MTO pay straight into bKash or Nagad?

Only through a bank. MFS providers handle inward remittances only when received through credits to the nostro accounts of scheduled banks in Bangladesh, and pay out in taka.

How does a sender fund a Bangladeshi bank partner?

Either Pre-Fund, where funds arrive before disbursement, or Post-Fund, where the bank pays first and is reimbursed within T+2. Post-Fund needs a Tk 2.00 million minimum balance in the exchange house's Non-Resident Taka account.

Are crypto or stablecoin ramps allowed in Bangladesh?

No. Bangladesh Bank does not permit transactions to obtain virtual assets or currencies, or any facilitation of their exchange, transfer or trading.

What limits apply to NPSB transfers?

Individual internet banking fund transfers are capped at Tk 3,00,000 per transaction and Tk 10,00,000 a day, and corporate transfers at Tk 5,00,000 per transaction and Tk 25,00,000 a day. There is no longer a cap on the number of transfers a day, though banks may set lower limits.

Which Bangladeshi banks receive the most remittances?

In FY2025-26, Islami Bank Bangladesh (US$6,885.8 million), Bangladesh Krishi Bank (US$4,100.7 million) and BRAC Bank (US$2,971.9 million).

Other markets

Sources

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