Software developer OpenWay Group announced today that its WAY4 software is providing the technical foundation for the national payment switch of Bangladesh. Early this year Infotech Global Pte. Ltd., OpenWay's partner in Asia, signed the contract with Bangladesh Bank to carry out the implementation of the new infrastructure. The project has received funding and support from the World Bank.
"Infotech is proud to contribute to [the] modernization of Bangladesh payment industry and to apply the industry's best practices to this project," said Suresh Agarwal, managing director of Infotech Global Pte. Ltd. "At the moment our team is connecting the WAY4-based switching system to several banks and international payment schemes — VISA, MasterCard, and Amex."
Commercial banks that have ATM/POS/e-Payment Gateways/Mobile payment switches or that are connected to any other shared switch network will be able to send inter-bank payment instructions to the NPS for clearing and settlement purpose.
The national payment switch of Bangladesh is a part of the World Bank's "Central Bank Strengthening Project." The project seeks to increase the transparency of internal and cross-border electronic payments, optimize all regulatory and supervisory procedures, and reduce related costs.
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Ever since Infotech signed the contract, all they are doing is calling useless meetings after meeting without giving any timeline of goals and deliverables. It was a mistake for OpenWay to get involved in this project without any prior regional success stories of similar project. Eight months have passed, and they still have no idea how to get a grip on the incompetent Bangladesh Bank officers. This was supposed to be a turn key project, I doubt it will see the end anytime in the next two years.