A software licence cutoff by Q-Cash technology vendor Compass Plus (Great Britain) Ltd triggered the 48-hour disruption that hit card and electronic transactions at more than 30 banks this week, correspondence seen by The TIMES of Bangladesh shows.
The UK-based vendor revoked IT Consultants PLC’s (ITC) payment-processing software licences on the evening of 4 October after terminating a two-decade business relationship over what it described as longstanding unpaid dues and other contractual breaches.
Bangladesh Bank sources told TIMES that Compass Plus was claiming more than $5,00,000 from ITC as accumulated dues.
The disruption came as ITC, operator of the Q-Cash network, was preparing to migrate from the Compass Plus platform to Way4, a payment-switch platform supplied by Belgium-based OpenWay Group.
ITC had told member banks at the end of September that the migration was planned for 29 October.
Compass Plus, in a written response, told TIMES that it had warned ITC in July to clear at least a significant portion of the outstanding dues and remedy contractual breaches, including provisions relating to assistance to competing suppliers.
The company said ITC failed to resolve the issues within the notice period. On 2 October, it notified ITC that the contract would be terminated, and two days later revoked the software licences and blocked access.
That action disrupted the Q-Cash network nationwide, leaving customers of more than 30 banks facing problems with card and electronic transactions, with some unable to use cards at all.
Bangladesh Bank stepped in on 6 October, bringing ITC and Compass Plus into talks that produced a settlement in principle.
Compass Plus’s Eastern Joint Regional Directorate Vice-President and Managing Director Sergey A Putenikhin told TIMES that the licences were reinstated after ITC gave written commitments to pay significant longstanding dues and sign a new licence agreement.
Compass Plus declined to disclose the amount it says it is owed.
According to Putenikhin Compass Plus received no communication or attempt to resolve following its July warning to ITC before issuing the termination notice on 2 October.
“On the evening of Sunday 4 October 2026, all licenses granted under our contract with ITCL were revoked,” he said.
The settlement came under fresh strain on 7 October after Compass Plus objected to statements attributed to ITC in media reports published after the outage.
The company said the ITC statements were “inaccurate, defamatory and damaging to its reputation” and asked ITC to withdraw them publicly and issue a corrective statement.
An ITC official had claimed that Compass Plus was seeking $1.5 million in migration fees and a central bank guarantee.
Compass Plus warned that failure to do so could lead to legal action, void the settlement in principle and result in ITC’s licence access being withdrawn again within 48 hours and not renewed.
A separate notice sent by Compass Plus to a Q-Cash member bank on Wednesday, also seen by TIMES, repeated the warning and said the 6 October settlement had been reached with Bangladesh Bank mediation.
The notice said licence reinstatement was based on ITC’s commitments to settle longstanding dues and sign a new licence agreement.
Compass Plus told the bank that any legal dispute with ITC could prevent the new agreement from being concluded and put service continuity at risk again.
It said Bangladesh Bank had been informed and advised the bank to contact ITC directly over continuity of service.
TIMES sought comment from ITC Managing Director and CEO Kazi Saifuddin Munir, but the requests went unanswered.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan said on Wednesday that Q-Cash had been preparing for a system migration at the end of October and reported sudden technological problems from the evening of 4 October.
He declined to discuss details of the commercial dispute.
“Bangladesh Bank summoned the ITC officials and asked to restore services as early as possible at any cost,” Khan told TIMES.
He said the services were subsequently restored and all Q-Cash member banks were carrying out electronic transactions smoothly on Wednesday.
