Nagad offers payment safety catering to women in Bangladesh

By Gloria Mathias

Nagad, a growing mobile financial service based in Bangladesh, has introduced an in-built virtual card number that allows its users to enjoy all services even after hiding their mobile numbers. This feature goes live in response to tackle harassment faced by female customers over the phone and safeguard their privacy.

A virtual card number works as a stand-in for actual mobile account numbers of Nagad customers, thus preventing phone stalking and fraud.

For being such a secure platform for financial transactions, the country’s MFS market disruptor has successfully on-boarded many women who are now enjoying full freedom when it comes to making financial transactions.

With her astute thinking, Sadaf Roksana, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nagad Ltd., has spearheaded this initiative to give women protection and freedom in financial transactions.

With the frequent incidents of women facing harassment or falling victim to fraud over the phone with their mobile numbers being disclosed while they made any transactions at MFS service points.  Sadaf, hence, then came up with the idea of introducing the virtual card number to check such issues.

Speaking about it, Sadaf Roksana, said, “Nagad always prioritises customers’ full protection and their privacy when they make any transactions. Financial freedom always takes center stage in every product and service design.”

“From the very beginning of our journey, we have ensured that our female customers do not face any harassment while using Nagad. We have introduced an in-built virtual number as a substitute for their real number for financial transactions,” she noted.

Nagad owes much of its successes to Sadaf’s creative ideas. She is committed to uplifting not only her company but also women all throughout Bangladesh. There are 2,20000 Nagad agents across the country. A good number of them are women who once were in hardship. Sadaf assisted them in becoming self-reliant by employing them as Nagad agents.

The MFS company has shaped the country’s financial market with its disruptive innovations like electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC), leading to a simplified account opening process.