City Bank revises down digital bank investment to Tk 138.8m

The City Bank Ltd has revised its investment amount in a proposed digital bank named "Digi10 Bank".

The private lender said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday that the board revised down the size of the investment from Tk 277.80 million to Tk 138.8 million.

The previous figure was made public on Tuesday.

The proposed digital bank is a consortium comprising nine commercial banks. They will together apply for licence to open a digital bank, subject to relevant regulatory approvals, according to the filing on Wednesday.

The revised amount would be equivalent to 11.11 per cent of the total paid-up capital of the proposed bank of Tk 1.25 billion.

The Bangladesh Bank invited applications for proposals to form digital banks on June 21. The deadline was initially set at August 1 this year.

The deadline was extended to August 17 to give entrepreneurs more time to prepare detailed applications with all the necessary documents.

As per the guidelines, a digital bank will have a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 1.25 billion. The capital will come from sponsors.

The guidelines are aimed at inspiring fintech companies, tech firms, microfinance institutions, mobile financial service-providers, banks, and financial institutions to come up with joint ventures for setting up digital banks.

A digital bank must go for an initial public offering (IPO) within five years from the date of getting licence from the central bank, according to the guidelines.

City Bank's net profit grew more than 9 per cent year-on-year to Tk 2.37 billion in the first half through June this year.

The bank's stock price has remained stuck at the floor at Tk 21.40 for three months.

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