The government has decided to privatise Nagad in a bid to inject competition and efficiency into Bangladesh’s mobile financial services (MFS) sector, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur announced.

Speaking at the Cashless Bangladesh Summit 2025, co-hosted by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and Mastercard in Dhaka, Mansur said the state-backed operator would soon be moved out of the Post Office’s control.

“We want to create more activity and competition in the MFS sector. We have decided to privatise Nagad at the highest level and bring in investors,” he said, adding that an advertisement for potential bidders would be issued within a week.

The governor emphasized that Nagad required a technology firm as its major shareholder to enhance its operations.

“The Post Office does not have the capacity to run the service. A technology company has to be brought in as the major shareholder of Nagad. We hope we can rejuvenate it as a worthy competitor in the MFS sector,” he noted.

The move is expected to reshape the MFS landscape, where private operators such as bKash currently dominate.