Episode 6: Economics of Payment Service Industry of Bangladesh Finance School by PFS

My guest today is Amitabh Guha Roy, currently working as the General Manager at Bkash, a company that transformed the payment service industry of Bangladesh. He is in charge of the department which drives bKash’s annual revenue plans and yearly budget, through pricing, analysis and analytics. Previously he used to work as a Product Manager at Standard Chartered Bank. He graduated (With director’s honor) from IBA, University of Dhaka, majoring in Finance. During his undergraduate years, he represented the champion teams in Battle of Minds, Masters of Ideation and many other business competitions, both national and international. Professionally, he is a Certified Supply Chain Analyst and also in the final stage of earning his CFA degree.

The discussion points are mentioned below:


I know Amitabh since he came to me as a mentee at PFS for CFA Classes. He is one of the smartest young professionals I know and later on, he also added value to PFS through his teaching skills as well. He was working as an international graduate (IG) at Standard Chartered bank,  a bank where many university graduates aspire to get an opportunity. Despite having a great position at an MNC bank, he decided to go for a position at Bkash back in early 2017. That time Bkash was beginning to get some traction and it was a tough choice leaving an MNC bank position to Bkash at that point of time. I can remember, you asked for suggestions from me and I did encourage you to move to Bkash. Can tell us a bit detail on what was going through your mind that time and how tough was the transition? and How your current job role is different from banking?
Many people find it hard to understand what type of company bKash is? Is it like a bank? In the initial years we used to see that it was written as "a Brac Bank Company". We don't see that very often now a days. What type of company it is?
We have many companies in Bangladesh like that. Mostly are banks' subsidiaries. Like Rocket, Mcash etc. We have also seen Nagad entered in this industry. Can you share some ideas about MFS industry? In the payment service industry, are there any companies other than MFS? And how competitive the industry is?
We have seen companies like MPESA created a great impact in the african region. We also have seen Paytm in India. How Bangladeshi MFS companies are different from those?
You are a certified supply chain analyst. Can you please describe about the distribution model of MFS industry? Do you think the current distribution model is sustainable or there is disruptions expected in the model?
2020 came as a storm to the world economy and all the economies are suffering and finding it hard to reinvent themselves. If we list down few companies that are making a great impact to the society through their works, bKash should be in one of the top few companies. The other day I was asking people about when they last touched a paper money. It seems that many did not touch a paper money in last 2/3 months. That is quite amazing in bangladesh where the predominant transaction method is cash based. Is it true that this pandemic came as a blessings to bKash and more and more people will be habituated with bKash going forward?
We have also seen people sending remittance quite smoothly through bkash and it is directly coming to their mobile. That is a great benefit to both the person who is sending and receiving remittance. It is extremely cumbersome getting money from a bank through western union or other services. Can you shed some light on the remittance industry and how MFS can disrupt in this business?

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