Bangladesh’s digital payment infrastructure has suffered a major disruption following a cyber incident allegedly involving a Russian technology vendor under sanctions, leaving millions of users unable to access card management services and interbank transactions since Sunday night.
The disruption originated from a dispute over software migration between local payment processor Information Technology Consultants Ltd (ITCL), which operates the Q-Cash network, and Russian company Compass Plus.
ITCL said Compass Plus installed a malicious script on its servers after learning that the company was replacing its platform with Way4, an enterprise payment platform developed by Brussels-based OpenWay.
According to ITCL, the script automatically restarted its servers every eight hours, wiping routing tables and disrupting data-processing capabilities across the network.
ITCL Managing Director and CEO Kazi Saifuddin Munir said on Tuesday that the company had alerted all its partner banks, including bKash, as soon as the problem was identified.
He said customer data remained secure and expressed hope that services could be restored by 10pm on Tuesday following intervention by Bangladesh Bank.
The dispute intensified in August when ITCL announced plans to phase out the Compass Plus platform through a 12- to 18-month transition. Compass Plus allegedly responded by threatening to withdraw technical support and immediately demanded a $1.5 million migration fee, along with an advance payment guarantee backed by Bangladesh Bank.
Central bank intervenes
Bangladesh Bank intervened on Monday to try to resolve the standoff through discussions involving ITCL and the vendor.
However, central bank officials expressed dissatisfaction with ITCL for shutting down the system without prior notice.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan described the incident as a technical problem but said the failure to address it promptly had caused severe hardship for cardholders.
He said the central bank would formally seek explanations from member banks over the sudden suspension of services.
Under Bangladesh Bank guidelines, institutions must notify the public sufficiently in advance through national media, television and direct text messages before any scheduled maintenance affecting payment services.
According to the central bank’s Payment Systems Department, ITCL’s system migration had initially been scheduled for late October.
A Bangladesh Bank official said ITCL suddenly informed the regulator on Sunday evening that it needed to take the service offline on an emergency basis.
“Although they claimed the emergency forced them to take this step, shutting down such critical payment infrastructure without prior notice is a clear violation of the regulatory framework,” the official said.
Millions hit by disruption
ITCL provides primary payment-processing and gateway infrastructure to 33 commercial banks in Bangladesh. Its services include the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB), ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, cash recycling machines (CRMs) and Internet Banking Fund Transfer (IBFT).
Industry insiders estimate that around 70% of the country’s banking card transactions are processed through ITCL.
According to a notice on ITCL’s website, maintenance had been scheduled from 9pm on Sunday (4 October) until noon on 10 October.
The abrupt suspension, however, left millions of customers struggling at restaurants, shops and ATM booths across the country. Many were also unable to conduct routine transactions or even check account balances through mobile banking apps.
Member banks expressed strong frustration over the sudden shutdown, saying it had damaged their reputation and undermined customer confidence.
Trust Bank Chief Financial Officer Mahfuzur Rahman said ITCL informed the bank about the issue on Sunday evening, the same day the service was shut down.
“We were not even given a day to inform our customers,” he said, describing the move as “completely unprofessional”.
He said the disruption had undermined customers’ confidence in all member banks.
According to Mahfuzur Rahman, Trust Bank’s debit cards remained operational on the international Visa and domestic NPSB networks, while its credit cards, prepaid cards and Q-Cash ATM network were completely out of service.
Source: The Business Standard
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7 Octoberober, 2026 
