Our friends at Mashreq become the first to receive a restricted license from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to kick off pilot operations as a digital retail bank, the bank said in a press release. The latest approval expands Mashreq’s operations to 14 countries, and will see the lender provide digital and Islamic banking services in the country.

Background: The bank had obtained in-principle approval to launch digital and Islamic banking in the country in July, and submitted an operational readiness report to the SBP.

What’s next? Over the next five years, the bank intends to onboard “mns of retail customers, catering to all their personal and business needs,” the bank said in the statement.

The lender has been expanding its digital operations globally over the past year, with the launch of its digital banking proposition Mashreq Neo in Egypt last year.

ICYMI- We spoke with head of Mashreq Neo Radu Topliceanu last year about the launch in Pakistan, where he told us about the country’s regulator’s openness and advanced regulations, and their approach to build the digital bank from scratch with a dedicated team on-the-ground.

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