Number of bank branches keeps rising

The number of bank branches in Bangladesh rose to 11,212 in June 2023, up 2.11 percent year-on-year, according to central bank data.

Of them, 5,856 branches are located in urban areas while 5,356 are in rural areas, as per the Bangladesh Bank review of e-banking and e-commerce statistics.

The growth trend has been on the rise for the past three years.

In June 2020, the year-on-year growth was 2.90 percent while it was 1.72 percent in 2021.

In October 2022, branches of banks in Bangladesh went past the 11,000-mark for the first time.

The scheduled banks facilitate financial transactions by opening branches and installing automated teller machines (ATMs), point of sale (POS) devices, cash deposit machines (CDMs), and cash register machines (CRMs) in urban and rural areas.

There were 13,704 ATMs, 1.06 lakh POS machines, 415 CDMs, and 3,335 CRMs across the country in June.

The review showed that about 3.27 crore cardholders made transactions in June worth Tk 33,877 crore while 52.96 lakh POS holders handled Tk 2,924 crore.

The number of issued debit cards stood at 3.21 crore in June while that of credit cards was 22.38 lakh and prepaid cards was 42.69 lakh.