The total deposit in the 10.34 lakh banking accounts owned by school students in the country stood at Tk 844.19 crore as on December 31, 2015 thanks to the banks offering higher interests on that than other deposit schemes.
The average deposit amount was around Tk 8,500 per student, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.
The total deposit in the accounts maintained by the scheduled banks under the school banking programme also marked a 10.35 per cent increase over the September-December quarter from Tk 764.99 crore to Tk 844.19 crore, while the number of the accounts rose from 10.03 lakh to 10.35 lakh over the period.
Under the programme, students under the age of 18 are allowed to open bank accounts by keeping a minimum balance ranging between Tk 100 and Tk 500 from bank to bank.
The central bank on November 2, 2010 asked the banks to launch the deposit product for students to infuse them with an urge to save up, a BB official said.
Fifty-five of the country’s 56 scheduled banks are now implementing the programme. As on December 31 last year, the total deposit in these accounts maintained with the state-owned banks stood at Tk 83.39 crore, the specialized banks at Tk 12.92 crore, the private commercial banks at Tk 743.95 crore, and the foreign commercial banks at Tk 2.81 crore.
Dutch-Bangla Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Eastern Bank, First Security Islami Bank, and United Commercial Bank were the top five banks that pulled the highest deposits from the students.
The banks usually give one per cent more interest on the deposit in the students’ accounts than on other products, the BB official said. The maximum interest rate offered by banks on normal saving deposits now ranges from 3.50 to 4.50 per cent, while they give 5.50 to 6 per cent interest to the student account holders.
The higher interest rate obviously attracts more deposits from the students, the official said.
Former caretaker government adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age on Wednesday that the amount of outstanding deposit in the school banking accounts was unusual as the students usually don’t have any income source.
He suspects the parents of the students are keeping funds with the accounts to enjoy the higher interest. If so, it will play no positive role on the overall national savings, he added.
Dhaka Bank managing director Syed Mahbubur Rahman, on the other hand, told New Age on Wednesday that the banks took a number of initiatives to boost the school banking programme.
Some of the banks organised school banking conferences at different educational institutions to generate an attitude of saving among the students, which fuelled up the deposits, he said, adding, ‘My bank, too, is going to hold a school conference at the earliest possible time to boost our school banking programme.’
