Bangladesh Bank has imposed temporary restrictions on mobile financial services (MFS) and person-to-person (P2P) transactions in view of the upcoming 13th National Parliament elections.

To prevent misuse of financial transactions during the elections, the restrictions will be in effect for 96 hours from February 9 midnight, to 11:59 am on February 12.

A circular in this regard was issued by the Payment Systems Department-1 (PSD-1) of Bangladesh Bank on Sunday (February 8).

The circular has asked all mobile financial service providers and scheduled banks in the country to follow the necessary instructions.

According to the circular, the maximum limit for each transaction in P2P transactions from MFS personal accounts within the specified time has been set at Tk 1,000.

At the same time, a customer can make a maximum of 10 P2P transactions per day.

However, normal transactions will continue as per the existing rules for merchant payments and utility bill payments.

Apart from this, all other types of MFS transactions will be temporarily suspended for the specified period, the circular said.

Meanwhile, every mobile financial service provider has been instructed to form its own 'Quick Response Cell' to quickly receive and resolve any complaints related to MFS during the election period.

At the same time, all types of MFS transactions will be kept under close monitoring at all times during that period. If suspicious or unusual transactions are detected, instructions have also been given to report them to the concerned police station immediately.

In addition, the circular said that during the specified period, P2P transactions in internet banking through IBFT under NPSB will be completely suspended.

Bangladesh Bank said that MFS providers and banks will have to provide all necessary cooperation as per the requirements of the Election Commission and law enforcement agencies.

MFS and other transactions will resume as usual after the specified period.