Al-Arafah launches Islamic Wallet
Al-Arafah Islami Bank in association with Dmoney Bangladesh yesterday launched an “Islamic Wallet”, which it terms as the country’s first Shariah- and mobile phone-based enabler of digital financial services.
The mobile app is said to facilitate fast, secure and hassle-free online financial transactions and account management such as cash-in and cash-out, fund transfers from bank accounts and cards and access to a range of lifestyle services.
It offers four payment combinations, the bank said in a statement.
One is at the person-to-business level such as bill payments and for food delivery, mobile top-ups, insurance premiums and loan instalments while another is at person-to-government such as government duties, taxes, fees etc.
It is also possible to make business-to-person payments such as payroll and commission disbursement alongside government-to-person payments such as subsidies, freedom fighter allowances, social welfare payments and endowments.
Al-Arafah bank said the wallet activities would regularly be monitored by a Shariah supervisory council to ensure adherence with the bank’s Shariah guidelines.
Inaugurating the app at Le Méridien Dhaka, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserve stood at $32 billion while the economy was the 39th largest in the world.
Al-Arafah’s Chairman Abdus Samad Labu said the bank was working to ensure equity and justice for sustainable and balanced growth and socio-economic development and facilitate the formation of a cashless society in Bangladesh.
Managing Director and CEO Farman R Chowdhury said the launch of “Islamic Wallet” would be one step forward towards fulfilling the dream of achieving a “Digital Bangladesh” in a Shariah-compliant manner.
He said this product would certainly act as a catalyst to achieve the goal of bringing in more and more of the unbanked and under-banked people under the banking umbrella as this would offer a full lifestyle solution.
Anjan Chowdhury, chairman of Dmoney, said they were proud to have supported the Al-Arafah in leveraging Dmoney’s technology platform to serve the needs of Shariah-based customers through a modern banking app.
Al-Arafah Senior Executive Vice President Syed Masodul Bari and Dmoney Bangladesh Co-Founder and Managing Director Aref R Bashir jointly introduced the app’s features.
