Four Digital Banks Receive Approval

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News Desk:

Bangladesh Bank has initially approved four digital banks in the country.

At a meeting of the central bank’s board of directors on Thursday (September 24), a decision was made to issue Letters of Intent (LOIs) to the four proposed digital banks.

The meeting was chaired by Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman.

The four newly approved digital banks are bKash; Boost-Robi; Digital Banking of Bhutan-DK; and Nova Digital Bank-Banglalink & Square. Earlier, approval had been granted to a digital bank named Kori, bringing the total number of approved digital banks to five.

Previously, 12 institutions had applied to establish digital banks. They are British Bangla Digital Bank PLC, Digital Banking of Bhutan-DK, Amar Digital Bank-22 MFI, 36 Digital Bank PLC, Boost-Robi, Amar Bank, App Bank-Farmers, Nova Digital Bank-Banglalink & Square, Maitri Digital Bank PLC, Upokari Digital Bank, Munafa Islami Digital Bank-Akij, and bKash Digital Bank.

During the previous Awami League government, Bangladesh Bank approved two digital banks in October 2023—Nagad Digital Bank PLC and Kori Digital Bank PLC. However, following the fall of the Awami League government, the central bank suspended the digital banking licences of the two institutions.