Banks will have to form a separate subsidiary if they want to provide mobile financial services (MFS) as per a proposal by the central bank.

At present, banks run MFS as a wing of the company, but the proposed guideline stipulates that they set up a separate platform with a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 100 crore.

It said the MFS platforms will be sponsored and led only by commercial banks, according to the Regulatory Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh.

The proposal also offers opportunities to mobile phone operators to be an active part in the system.

The scheduled commercial bank-led MFS platforms may have both banks and non-bank entities, including mobile network operators, as equity holders.

In that case, banks will hold the majority beneficial ownership in total equity.

The beneficial ownership of telecom operators in an MFS platform should not exceed 30 percent of its total equity.

Mobile operators have long sought to be part of the growing MFS but the banks were always opposed to the idea.

Although the mobile operators have not been given the full permission to run the MFS, a chief executive officer of a mobile phone operator welcomed the proposal.

But bankers expressed concerns.

“It will not be wise to force us to form a subsidiary. It should be kept open,” said Abul Kashem Md Shirin, deputy managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank that runs one of the largest mobile financial services.