Bangladesh is generating economic activity faster than it is building firms.

"Financial inclusion" has been a buzzword in Bangladesh for many years.

To attain viability, banks must manage the various risks they encounter in this process of intermediation.

The poor are still reliant on informal credit markets, which can be exceedingly exploitative.

The system of selling insurance services to bank customers will ultimately expand financial inclusion.

The key objective of digital banks should be to expand financial inclusion in the country rather than registering profit, according to industry experts.

Reaching the financial inclusion goal would take 200 years for Bangladesh if the country keeps working at the current pace in the area, said Shah Md Ahsan Habib, a professor at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), today. 

Women's access to finance remains difficult and often riddled with pitfalls. 

The good news is that mobile phones and alternate banking channels such as agent banking are bringing millions of individuals into the formal financial system, meaning they have bank accounts or mobile money account for the first time. This is important because financial inclusion is crucial in helping people save money for emergencies, get loans to start businesses, and ultimately resulting in an improvement in their overall wellbeing.

The success of branchless banking services, like mobile financial services in Bangladesh, helps us to dream of full financial inclusion in future. This is not only because of higher demands by a large population, but also due to the need to have more diversified products of financial services.