What is the difference between personal, agent and merchant accounts?

Yes, they are different — and Bangladesh Bank’s published statistics count the parties separately: customers, agents and merchants. The three exist for three different roles.

A personal account belongs to an ordinary user — holding money, sending it, paying bills, buying things. An agent account is a service point: the person or shop where you go to put cash in or take cash out. A merchant account belongs to a business, for accepting customer payments against sales.

Because the roles differ, so do the rules. Agent and merchant accounts are opened for business purposes with their own procedures and conditions; using a personal account to run a business steps outside that structure.

For a user there is a practical implication: notice where you are transacting. At an agent point, enter your own PIN yourself; when paying a shop, check whether you are making a merchant payment or sending money to a personal number — the protections are not the same.

Sources:

• Bangladesh Bank — MFS statistics