Banks asked to ensure online services during Eid

Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked banks in the country to provide their clients with online and internet-based banking services round the clock during the upcoming Eid holidays.

Banks will have to deliver immediate financial services through automated teller machines (ATM), points of sale (POS), internet banking and mobile financial services (MFS), according to a Bangladesh Bank notice.

The central bank asked the lenders to ensure ATM services for clients during the holidays, when sufficient cash has to be stored with the tool.

If any ATM machine faces a technical glitch, banks will have to solve it in the quickest possible time.

Eid-ul-Azha, one of the largest religious festivals for Muslims, is scheduled to be celebrated on June 29. The government declared a vacation for five days to celebrate the festival.

The central bank also asked banks to ensure POS service during the period and to use awareness programmes to keep clients alert so that they can avert fraudulent activities.

Banks will have to ensure the security tool of the two-factor authentication system while clients settle transactions through the method of card-not-present.

A card-not-present transaction occurs when neither the cardholder nor the credit card is physically present at the time of the transaction. It is most common for orders that happen remotely over the phone, by internet or mail.

MFS providers will have to provide financial services during the holidays as well. In addition, the agents of MFS will have to keep sufficient funds in their shops such that clients can withdraw funds uninterruptedly, the central bank said.