Play store
Bangladesh Bank has given initial approval to four new digital banks and decided to issue them letters of intent (LoIs), allowing them to proceed with preparations to launch operations.
The four approved institutions are bKash Digital Bank, Boost Digital Bank, Nova Digital Bank and Digital Banking of Bhutan. bKash Digital Bank is backed by bKash shareholders, Boost Digital Bank by Robi Axiata, Nova Digital Bank by VEON, the parent company of Banglalink, and Square Group, while Digital Banking of Bhutan is backed by Bhutan’s DK Bank.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Bangladesh Bank board of directors on Thursday, chaired by Governor Mostaqur Rahman.
An LoI is a conditional initial approval, not a final banking licence.
The applicants must fulfil regulatory requirements before receiving final approval to start operations.
Under Bangladesh Bank’s policy, a digital bank must have at least Tk 300 crore in paid-up capital.
The central bank also decided to issue an LoI to Kori Digital Bank, which had received initial approval earlier.
This brings the number of digital banks with initial approval to five.
Bangladesh Bank had invited applications for digital banks in 2025, with 12 institutions applying. After scrutiny, the board selected four applicants for the latest initial approvals.
Digital banks are designed to provide banking services entirely online, through websites or mobile applications, without conventional branch networks.