VEON aims to increase financial inclusion through tech-powered digital banking

Telecom multinational Banglalink rolls out its ambitious move into digital banking with an elaborately defined broad strategy to address Bangladesh's financial inclusion and digital divide. Banglalink, a subsidiary of VEON, CEO Johan Buse stresses that device access and basic connectivity must come before costly upgrades such as 5G technology.
In a detailed interview with the Techexpress, Mr Buse says VEON, in partnership with Bangladeshi conglomerate Square Group, has applied for a digital bank licence as part of a consortium. The initiative seeks to tackle Bangladesh's substantial financial-inclusion gap, with "still half of the Bangladeshi population eligible who are older than 18 and do
not have a bank account". He finds the current banking ecosystem "relatively archaic" and unnecessarily complex.
Liberating finance from the confines of age-old banking is the main motto behind applying for digital banking. The move, he says, mirrors Veon's role two decades ago in democratising mobile services by offering affordable connectivity. The company now intends to replicate that approach in financial services, leveraging its network reach to make digital finance easy, transparent and accessible.
Mr Buse highlights the consortium's international strengths, noting that VEON already operates financial services in three countries, backed by nearly 15 years of mobile-financial experience. The digital bank will be built on a "proven platform" already used by JazzCash in Pakistan, which processes roughly 10 per cent of the country's payments and provides "full visibility" for policymakers.
The chief executive officer underscores the societal and fiscal benefits of digitising payments. Cash handling, he says, is extremely costly for the government, with demand for hard cash rising by about 10 per cent annually. "The cost of handling cash for the government-printing, cleaning, maintaining, transporting-is millions of dollars." Digital transactions, meanwhile, are traceable and can help improve Bangladesh's low tax-efficiency ratio.
The planned platform will support a wide range of services, including micro-lending-used, for example, by rickshaw drivers who borrow in the morning and repay by evening-as well as tap-to-pay features. But for digital finance to scale, Mr Buse stresses that interoperability is essential. "If you want to democratise digital banking and payments, you need that," he says, adding that current transaction costs for both customers and merchants remain "quite on the high side". He confirms that investment commitments from the consortium will be "significantly above what is the minimum threshold" required for licensing.
How to tackle digital divide through device inclusion: Mr Buse has emphasised that digital banking cannot flourish without first addressing Bangladesh's broader digital divide. "Before you can fix financial inclusion you need to fix digital inclusion and before you can fix digital inclusion you need to fix device inclusion," he explains the interoperability of the virtual-banking operations. Currently, around half the population does not own a smartphone.
To address this, Veon is setting up a new entity dedicated to selling devices at the "most affordable rate possible" through instalment plans. But hardware alone is not enough. The CEO warns that, as seen in advanced markets like Singapore, the centre of criminal activity is shifting from physical theft to sophisticated "cyber-scams".
To protect consumers, Veon will conduct nationwide awareness activities. "We need to step up. We need to step up," Mr Buse says, adding that from next year the company will run roadshows and seminars in villages and universities to educate users on digital safety.
The 4G strategy and the 6G horizon: Veon focuses on network priorities, defending the decision to strengthen 4G coverage rather than rush into 5G deployment. The real technological leap, the chief executive argues, occurred with the shift from 3G to 4G, when "data really became usable".
He says the fifth-generation mobile-network technology will bring limited consumer benefit under current conditions, citing low adoption of 5G-capable handsets-merely under 10 per cent-as well as performance unpredictability during heavy usage and pre-existing network bottlenecks.
In today's environment, he notes, "4G can be as fast as 5G".
Veon sees 6G, expected in four to five years, as a more meaningful technological shift. Non-Standalone 5G is "putting a turbo on your existing engine", while a full Standalone 5G network would soon be "dwarfed once 6G comes". Summarising the company's philosophy, Mr Buse says: "We prefer to make sure that everyone can ride a motorcycle or a car instead of a very few people driving a Ferrari."
He takes insights into regulatory environment and future outlook of the up-and-coming ventures.
The CEO highlights regulatory constraints that weigh heavily on operators. Mobile-network operators are among the highest taxpayers in the country, with about 70 taka out of every 100 taka spent by customers going for taxes. This leaves operators with only 30 taka to run a capital-intensive business. He also notes that Bangladesh's spectrum prices are "among the highest globally", restricting network expansion
and diminishing service quality. High prices for low-band spectrum such as 700MHz further hinder indoor coverage.
Setting his sights wider, Mr Buse outlines Veon's plan to become a full-fledged "digital operator" rather than a traditional connectivity provider. Within two years, VEON will evolve into a group structure comprising dedicated entities for Connectivity, ICT, Health, Education and Financial Services. The strategy will draw on the company's extensive "first-party data" and its understanding of 40 million customers to deliver more relevant digital services, enhanced by artificial intelligence.
The company boss concludes on a note of optimism that Bangladesh will enter a period of "stability and progression for everyone". Robust investment in digital infrastructure-following models seen in places such as Singapore-will be essential to boost productivity and significantly raise GDP.