Bangladesh banks are preparing to launch mobile point-of-sale services that are expected to reduce merchants' payment costs and accelerate financial inclusion throughout the country, a Visa official told the Financial Express.

"Some banks are now in the process of buying the devices," Uttam Nayak, Visa's group country manager for India and South Asia, told the Financial Express. "Within the first half of this year, you will see [the devices] in Bangladesh."

The Visa official told the publication that, of the $100 billion Bangladeshi citizens spent last year, only $1 billion were initiated through an electronic payment. Financial institutions there have issued about 6 million cards, but cardholders mostly use them to withdraw cash because the current point-of-sale market is weak among merchants, the official said.

Some 20,000 merchants in Bangladesh have terminals, according to the Visa official. He said half a million terminals are needed to make an impact in the Bangladeshi market.