Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC (IBBPLC) achieves five-fold card base growth with BPC, surpassing 12 million in Bangladesh

• IBBPLC’s card base grew fivefold to 12 million cards by 2026.
• IBBPLC’s transaction volumes increased 35 times to 15 million transactions per month.
• IBBPLC expanded payment accessibility through Bangla QR, mVisa and MasterPass QR and TakaPay, offering modern simple pay methods to the market.

Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC (IBBPLC), the largest bank in Bangladesh and a pioneer of Sharia-compliant digital banking, marks a significant expansion of its payments and digital services, strengthening its position as one of the country’s most prominent and trusted banking brand. With BPC’s future-proven SmartVista platform being the backbone of its end-to-end issuing and acquiring modernisation, IBBPLC has built over the years a country-wide payments ecosystem that supports rapid innovation, high transaction growth and reliable service delivery across Bangladesh.

With the modern platform in place, IBBPLC has steadily expanded its reach across Bangladesh, turning infrastructure modernisation into visible growth for customers, merchants and the wider network. The bank was able to roll out new services much faster, extending payment acceptance for Visa, Mastercard, UPI and NPSB through cards and QR codes. Merchants receive a more convenient way to accept digital payments and settle funds directly within the banking system, while customers enjoy reliable, quick and consistent banking experience across all bank’s channels.

Rafiqul Islam, Head of Payment Technology Division, IBBPLC said: "Our mission has always been to serve the wider community - including the least developed areas - through accessible, equitable, and Shariah-compliant banking. This digital transformation has allowed us to scale that mission nationwide.”

The growth achieved on the new platform has been exceptional. Over the years, modernised future-proven technology has helped IBBPLC to scale exponentially. Its card base grew fivefold to 12 million cards by 2026, its merchant network doubled, and transaction activity increased 35 times to reach 15 million transactions per month, reflecting the bank’s growing role as one of Bangladesh’s most accessible and modern banking institutions.

Rafiqul Islam, Head of Payment Technology Division, IBBPLC added: “Since adopting SmartVista in January 2019, we have continuously evolved to meet the fast-changing demands of fintech. Our Zen-G customers expect seamless, app-first banking. With CellFin's virtual cards (supporting Mastercard, UPI, and Visa), mCash, iSmart, and Bangladesh's first UPI Host Card Emulation (HCE), we have delivered exactly that. SmartVista remains the reliable engine behind every innovation, helping us grow business volume while maintaining full compliance.”

IBBLPLC’s journey with BPC began with migrating Visa debit and credit portfolio and ATM operations from a legacy switch to the SmartVista platform - completed in just eight months with zero disruption. That migration laid the foundation for a scalable, future-ready payment ecosystem. Since then, IBBPLC expanded acquiring services for Visa debit, prepaid, and credit cards, integrated with NPSB, and added international schemes including Mastercard and UPI. As an early adopter of TakaPay, the bank connected its payment infrastructure with internet and mobile banking channels for a unified customer experience. Modernization also extended to POS and Cash Recycler Machine (CRM) acquiring, helping IBBLPLC to build one of the country's largest and most reliable ATM and POS networks with near-zero downtime.

Practical game-changers include an interactive voice response (IVR) service for essential banking actions, including balance inquiries, payments, inter-bank transfers, card blocking and credit card payments, alongside a strong record of first-in-Bangladesh innovations enabled by SmartVista. These include the country’s first HCE deployment on the UPI network, enhanced tokenization for UPI HCE mobile payments, and ongoing work with Mastercard and Visa on Google Pay integration to bring tap-and-pay experiences to customers. IBBL also established leadership in QR payments through support for Bangla QR, mVisa, MasterPass QR and UPI QR, enabling merchants, especially smaller businesses, to accept digital payments with minimal friction while giving customers a faster and simpler way to pay.

Imran Vilcassim, Global Chief Commercial Officer – Digital Banking Platforms and Head of South Asia, BPC, said: “Our long-standing partnership with IBBPLC reflects a shared commitment to building secure, scalable and future-ready financial services for Bangladesh. We are honoured to support IBBPLC’s growth and to stand behind one of the country’s most impressive digital banking success stories. With BPC’s future-proven solutions, the bank has been able to innovate faster, scale with confidence and deliver trusted digital experiences to millions of users, and we remain committed to supporting its next chapter.”

Looking ahead, IBBPLC and BPC continue to work together on strengthening omnichannel fraud monitoring, as the bank’s digital operations and transaction volumes continue to grow. With an established country-wide payments ecosystem, IBBPLC is well positioned to continue expanding secure, innovative and inclusive banking services across Bangladesh while reinforcing its role as a major driver of the country’s digital agenda.