Bangla QR payments to become cheaper, instant for merchants from tomorrow: BB

Bangladesh Bank today announced a series of measures to expand Bangla QR, the country's interoperable QR payment standard, including lower merchant costs, instant settlement and incentives for financial institutions.

At a press conference at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka today, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan said customers of banks and mobile financial services (MFS) providers can now scan Bangla QR codes through mobile apps to pay at about 39 lakh merchant points nationwide.

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On April 1 this year, Bangladesh Bank instructed banks and financial service providers to replace proprietary QR codes with Bangla QR by June 30 or face penalties.

Following the complete replacement on July 1, transactions have grown 3.5 times and their total value about five times over the past 90 days.

In June 2026, Bangla QR handled a daily average of about 1 lakh payments worth over Tk 28 crore. The daily average has now reached around 3.5 lakh transactions worth Tk 143.54 crore.

BB has taken several steps to improve pricing, promotion and performance and encourage merchant adoption. Sellers will receive proceeds from all Bangla QR payments immediately starting October 1.

From the same date, the central bank will remove the 1 percent minimum merchant discount rate (MDR) for acquirers and set the interchange reimbursement fee (IRF) for issuers at zero.

MDR is the fee merchants pay acquirers, while IRF is what acquirers pay issuers.

The central bank said the move will lower merchant costs and allow banks and MFS providers to offer the service free of charge or at a nominal fee.

Additionally, from October 1, Bangladesh Bank will pay incentives on Bangla QR payments of up to Tk 2,000 processed through the National Payment Switch Bangladesh: 0.10 percent to acquirers and 0.20 percent to issuers.

From November 1, customers will also be able to make person-to-person transfers across institutions by scanning another customer's Bangla QR code or uploading its image.

Failed transactions will be refunded immediately or as quickly as possible, the central bank said, referring to dispute-resolution guidelines issued on September 27. Customers can also report issues via the Bangladesh Bank hotline at 16236.

Also, an executive committee chaired by the central bank governor and a steering committee comprising representatives from various ministries and divisions are identifying further policy measures to support digital payments.