Dhaka, Jan. 21 -- Agent banking has woven one of Bangladesh's quiet financial success stories. The pivot aims at extending high-street banking services to underserved, mostly women and geographically remote populations, as the model rapidly became a critical conduit for rural savings mobilisation, remittance inflow, and grassroots-level liquidity.

Beginning in 2013, by mid-2025, agent-banking outlets had total deposits balance exceeding Tk 472 billion and loan outstanding worth nearly Tk 111.4 billion-figures that underscore their growing financial and macroeconomic relevance.

Yet, despite these impressive aggregates, the growing agent banking has recently got into an unexpected slowdown.

The number of agents squeezed to 15,221 at the ...