The impact of mobile financial services in Bangladesh: Usage, benefits, and challenges

Mobile Financial Services (MFSs) have ignited a financial revolution in Bangladesh, dismantling traditional barriers and ushering in an era of unprecedented accessibility, efficiency, and economic empowerment for the unbanked and underprivileged. This in-depth analysis rigorously explores the meteoric rise and transformative influence of MFSs across Bangladesh's financial ecosystem, scrutinizing their catalytic role in reshaping household economies, supercharging SME growth and redefining the nation's digital financial infrastructure through a comprehensive evaluation of empirical data, cutting-edge industry reports, and authoritative policy documents. The research spotlights the stratospheric dominance of industry titans like bKash, Rocket and Nagad while launching a penetrating critique of stubborn roadblocks—spotty network reliability, crippling digital illiteracy, sophisticated cyber fraud networks and deep-seated trust issues—leveraging the SERVQUAL framework alongside groundbreaking case studies to dissect service excellence. Revelatory findings confirm that while MFSs have spectacularly expanded financial inclusion, particularly in remote hinterlands, formidable systemic hurdles persist, demanding bold policy overhauls, disruptive technological breakthroughs and ironclad security protocols to unlock their full potential. The study culminates in a visionary blueprint for regulators and financial innovators, prescribing aggressive strategies to fortify platform resilience, amplify rural penetration and cultivate unshakable consumer trust—ensuring these digital financial powerhouses become unstoppable engines for nationwide prosperity, bridging Bangladesh's wealth gap and propelling the nation toward an irrepressible, cashless future.