Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) on Sunday signed memoranda of understanding with five private commercial banks to bring them under its One Stop Service (OSS) platform, further strengthening the country’s digital investment facilitation system.
The signing ceremony, held at BIDA’s conference room, included NCC Bank PLC, One Bank PLC, United Commercial Bank (UCB) PLC, Shimanto Bank PLC and Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC.
BIDA Executive Member Air Commodore Md Shaharul Huda, who chaired the event, said the authority is continuously enhancing its OSS platform to provide faster, simpler and more modern services to investors. He added that the inclusion of the five banks would allow investors to access essential banking services through a single window.
Under the agreements, investors will be able to open bank accounts online through the OSS portal, including provisional accounts for foreign investors, without having to visit banks separately.
At present, the OSS platform provides 142 services through 47 stakeholder agencies, including BIDA, and has processed more than 215,000 applications so far. With Sunday’s agreements, the total number of MoUs signed by BIDA with various organisations has reached 68.
Looking ahead, BIDA aims to deliver over 150 services from 60 institutions through the OSS platform. These services will also be available through BanglaBiz, a unified platform being developed to bring all Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) under a single framework.
BIDA Director (OSS and Data Analytics) Sunil Kumar Adhikary delivered the welcome address, while Director General Jiban Krishna Saha Roy gave an overview of the OSS system.
Senior officials from the five banks were present at the ceremony, alongside representatives from Bangladesh Bank and the Financial Institutions Division.
