Mr. Md. Arfan Ali is a legendary banker and visionary icon of Digital Bangladesh. He is the pioneer of Agent Banking in Bangladesh. With his innovation, leadership and perseverance, he has promoted the Financial Inclusion of the unbanked and underserved people of the country and launched his business enterprise, Zaytoon Business Solutions, to develop a ‘Payment Aggregator’ for the first time in Bangladesh. This aggregator will ensure all financial services are easily accessible to the rural unreached people.
Mr. Arfan Ali obtained his MBA degree from the Institute of Business Administration under Dhaka University. He has over 31 years of experience in the banking sector. He started his career with Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd. as a probationary officer in 1991. Later, he joined Hanil Bank (of South Korea) in 1996 and played key roles in the setting up of its Dhaka office.
Mr. Ali joined Bank Asia Limited as Assistant Vice President in 1999. He served at Bank Asia for 23 years and popularized the bank throughout the country - especially to the underprivileged rural population, by introducing agent banking. This in turn facilitated government safety net payments, passport fees payment, post office digital banking etc. and took Bank Asia to new heights. Afterwards, he left the bank as President & Managing Director in August 2022.
Mr. Ali is an avid learner. He is very keen to disseminate his experience and learning to the next generation. He also served as a part time faculty of the Institute of Business Administration of Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh for 10 years.