Veon and Bangladeshi conglomerate Square Group have secured a digital bank licence from Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, giving the Amsterdam-headquartered operator a fourth market for its digital financial services arm.

The joint venture between Veon Digital Financial Group and Square Group will build on infrastructure Banglalink, Veon's Bangladeshi mobile operator, already operates. Banglalink holds a Payment Service Provider (PSP) licence that underpins its Mukto Pay digital payments service, and the new digital bank is expected to plug into the operator's mobile network and distribution channels.

The commercial logic is straightforward: Bangladesh has a large unbanked population, and the venture aims to sell banking and financial services to customers with limited access to conventional banking. Veon Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu said the approval would support efforts to bring more of that population into the formal financial system.

Johan Buse, CEO of Banglalink, framed the value proposition around the operator's nationwide network. He said combining that telecommunications footprint with digital financial services would let the new bank target customers without access to conventional banking.

The licence fits into a wider, explicitly political investment push. Veon launched its "Invest in Bangladesh NOW!" initiative with the Bangladeshi government during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week in September, committing an initial $250 million under a broader ambition to mobilise $1 billion in foreign direct investment for the country across connectivity, digital infrastructure, financial services and AI.

Veon's digital financial services track record gives the venture some grounding beyond the marketing. Veon Digital Financial Group counted 59 million active financial services customers across Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the end of Q2 2026. Bangladesh now becomes its fourth market.

The partnership structure pairs complementary assets. Veon brings its digital financial services and technology capabilities; Square Group contributes a domestic retail, distribution and manufacturing network — a local footprint that should help with customer acquisition in a market where physical agent networks still drive adoption of mobile money.

Regulatory work remains before any services launch. The joint venture has yet to start the digital bank, and further regulatory and operational steps are required before it can begin serving customers. Bangladesh Bank's approval is therefore a milestone, not a launch: the timeline for the bank going live depends on how quickly those remaining steps are completed.

For Veon, the move extends a playbook already proven in Central and South Asia — using a mobile operator's distribution and customer base as the delivery channel for financial services — into one of the world's largest underbanked markets, backed by a commitment of real capital under its billion-dollar FDI pledge.