Dhaka: Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman on Wednesday formally launched the point of sale (POS) service under the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) in order to facilitate inter-bank electronic payments of different channels.

The service was inaugurated at a function at Bangladesh Bank auditorium which was attended by its top officials.

At present, a number of NPSB services, including Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Internet, Mobile Devices, are being operated by different banks.

Addressing the function, Dr Atiur Rahman said the new service will play a catalyst role in enhancing the e-commerce activities across the country.

The NPSB was launched with the main objective of creating a common electronic platform for the switches in Bangladesh.

NPSB is a mother switch of all other switches in the country. This service has been facilitating the expansion of the card-based payment networks substantially and promoting e-commerce throughout the country.

Online payment of government dues, using cards and account number information through Internet will greatly be enhanced using NPSB.

Payment Systems Department (PSD) is now responsible to operate and settle the transactions regularly.

NPSB was launched as "go-live" on 27 December 2012 to route ATM transactions. At present, transactions among 42 banks are being routed through NPSB.