The Bangladesh Bank on Sunday stopped providing direct customer services—including the sale of savings certificates and prize bonds, exchange of torn or damaged banknotes, and automated challan services—in line with its earlier announcement.

The central bank said commercial banks have been instructed to ensure smooth and uninterrupted services for customers in these areas, with monitoring activities already intensified.

In a notice issued earlier on Thursday, the Bangladesh Bank stated that central banks anywhere in the world do not offer such services directly at their counters. Citing security concerns as a Key Performance Indicators (KPI), it said the decision to discontinue customer-focused services was taken accordingly.

Initially, the services were scheduled to be suspended from November 30 at the Motijheel office first, followed by other offices. However, the timeline was moved forward, and the central bank decided to halt all direct services at all its offices simultaneously from today.

Until now, Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office, as well as its branches in Sadarghat, Chattogram, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, Bogura, Rajshahi, and Sylhet, provided these customer-related services.