Bangladesh Bank has sought an explanation from bKash after detecting more than 7,000 suspected fake accounts on the country's largest mobile financial services platform, raising concerns over compliance with customer verification rules.

The central bank has asked bKash to explain why it should not face financial penalties for allegedly violating Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines issued by the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU).

According to central bank officials, some of the identified accounts listed account holders' ages between 100 and 150 years. Several accounts also showed unusually high transaction activity, raising further questions about their authenticity.

Officials said keeping such accounts active despite these irregularities could constitute a violation of the regulator's KYC requirements.

Bangladesh Bank sent the explanation notice to bKash on November 3 under Section 37 of the Payment and Settlement Act, 2024.

The BFIU's KYC guidelines apply to banks, non-bank financial institutions, mobile financial service providers and other payment service operators.

Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank regularly takes action against financial institutions that violate regulatory instructions when the relevant laws or circulars provide for penalties.

However, he clarified that no fine had been imposed on bKash so far. Seeking an explanation is the initial stage of the process, and further action will depend on the company's response.

Central bank officials also expressed concern over the growing use of mobile financial services for illegal transactions, online gambling, betting and cryptocurrency trading. They said such activities are often conducted through fraudulent accounts.

bKash Explains Age-Related Errors in Accounts

Responding to the allegations, bKash said all customer accounts are opened through electronic KYC (e-KYC) or paper-based KYC procedures in line with regulatory customer due diligence requirements.

Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communications at bKash, said customer identities are verified through biometric authentication against National Identity Card (NID) information stored in the Election Commission's database.

He explained that the e-KYC system uses optical character recognition (OCR) to capture information directly from NID records, while facial recognition technology helps verify customers' identities.

According to Dalim, many of the accounts showing ages of 100 years or above resulted from incorrect birth dates recorded in the respective NID databases.

He said the affected customers had been asked to correct their dates of birth in the Election Commission's database and notify bKash so that their account information could be updated.

In some paper-based KYC cases, incorrect birth years were also entered during manual data entry. The company said those errors had subsequently been corrected.

Dalim added that all the accounts identified in the matter had been placed under Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), with necessary risk management measures implemented.

bKash Has 8.5 Crore Registered Accounts

bKash Limited operates as a subsidiary of BRAC Bank PLC and initially began as a joint venture between BRAC Bank and Money in Motion LLC.

The company currently has approximately 8.5 crore registered accounts, of which around 4.20 crore are active.

The latest development highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of mobile financial services platforms as Bangladesh seeks to strengthen financial transparency and prevent illegal transactions.