Bangladesh Bank (BB) has requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to verify the information of five foreign shareholders in the Nagad Digital Bank PLC through Bangladesh's embassies in Singapore and the USA.
The foreign shareholders’ companies are holding a majority of the digital bank's shares. These are Blue Haven Ventures (USA), Osiris Capital Partners (USA), Zen FinTech (USA), Finclusion Ventures Pte Ltd (Singapore) and Trupay Technologies (USA).
The central bank requirement includes information on the registration of the companies, their address and location, business activities, including those of subsidiaries in case these were holding companies, net revenue after tax in the last three years, and net assets.
The BB also sought to verify the ownership structure of the companies, organisational structure during their formation, current ownership, and the citizenship status of the owners.
The board of directors of the BB gave the final approval for Nagad Digital Bank PLC on May 28 after it met the criteria mentioned in the letter of intent (LoI) handed over to it in October last year.
Nagad is a digital financial service launched by the Bangladesh Post Office on March 26, 2019. Founded in 2018 by Tanvir A. Mishuk, it focuses on providing innovative digital banking solutions, particularly for businesses.
As of early 2021, Nagad had over 45 lakh registered users and had become the second-largest mobile financial service (MFS) provider in Bangladesh, capturing a 30 percent market share.
Though Nagad started business in 2018, it got the central bank registration in October 2023. Nagad did not have any permission from the BB to operate MFS, which is mandatory from the regulator.
Of the shareholders, three companies - Osiris Capital Partners (USA), Blue Haven Ventures (USA), and Finclusion Ventures Pte Ltd (Singapore) - hold more than 10 percent of shares. The rest four shareholders are Zen FinTech (USA), Trupay Technologies, Farhan Karim Khan, and Fintechtual Holdings Ltd, the only local shareholder.
