Corruption Reduction in Bangladesh by Introducing Modern FinTech: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Framework

Corruption remains one of the major barriers to sustainable economic development in Bangladesh.Traditional cash-based transactions, weak institutional monitoring, financial exclusion, bureaucraticinefficiency, and political interference have intensified bribery, money laundering, tax evasion, andfinancial fraud. Modern Financial Technology (FinTech) provides a transformative opportunity toreduce corruption through digital payments, blockchain systems, artificial intelligence (AI), biometricverification, regulatory technology (RegTech), and transparent financial ecosystems. This paperinvestigates how FinTech can reduce corruption in Bangladesh by improving transparency,accountability, transaction traceability, and financial inclusion. The study adopts a qualitativeanalytical approach supplemented by quantitative secondary data drawn from policy reports,academic literature, Bangladesh Bank publications, Transparency International datasets, and recentfinancial-crime investigations. Findings indicate that Mobile Financial Services (MFS), digital banking,e-governance platforms, blockchain-enabled public procurement, and AI-driven Anti-MoneyLaundering (AML) systems can significantly reduce informal cash transactions and administrativecorruption. However, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, regulatory weaknesses, political influence, anddigital inequality remain substantial challenges. The paper proposes a comprehensive policyframework integrating central-bank oversight, digital identity systems, blockchain governance,AI-powered fraud detection, and financial-literacy initiatives.Keywords: FinTech, Corruption Reduction, Digital Payments, Blockchain, Bangladesh, Mobile FinancialServices, Financial Transparency, AI Governance, E-Governance, Digital Banking