Desk Report:
The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with five private commercial banks to expand its Online One Stop Service (OSS), aiming to further simplify investment services and improve the country’s business-friendly environment.
The agreement was signed at BIDA’s conference room on Sunday, where Executive Member Air Commodore Md Shaharul Huda presided over the ceremony.
In his remarks, Shaharul Huda said BIDA has been continuously strengthening the OSS platform to ensure faster, easier and more modern services for investors. The inclusion of five leading banks will allow investors to access essential banking services from a single platform, he added.
The banks that joined the initiative are NCC Bank PLC, One Bank PLC, United Commercial Bank PLC, Shimanto Bank PLC, and Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC. Under the agreement, investors will now be able to open bank accounts online through the OSS portal, including temporary accounts for foreign investors.
Currently, the OSS platform offers 142 services and is integrated with 47 stakeholder agencies. So far, more than 215,000 applications have been processed through the system. With the addition of the five banks, the scope of services is expected to expand further. BIDA has so far signed 68 MoUs with various service providers.
BIDA also plans to expand OSS services to more than 150 services across 60 institutions in the coming years. In addition, it is working on developing “BanglaBiz”, a unified single digital platform that will integrate all investment promotion agencies (IPAs), enabling investors to access services through a “one-time information” principle.
At the beginning of the programme, Director (OSS & Data Analytics) Sunil Kumar Adhikari delivered the welcome speech. A presentation on the OSS system was given by BIDA Director General Jiban Krishna Saha Roy.
Speakers at the event included Md Shahidul Islam, Head of Business at Shimanto Bank; Adnan Masud, Additional Managing Director of UCB; M. Shamsul Arefin, Managing Director & CEO of NCC Bank; Md Rafat Ullah Khan, Managing Director & CEO of Al-Arafah Islami Bank; and Kazi Ziaul Islam, Managing Director & CEO of One Bank.
Representatives from Bangladesh Bank and the Financial Institutions Division also spoke at the event.
