Goh Peng Ooi, the founder and chairman of the Malaysia-based Silverlake Group, has expressed his keen interest to partner with Nagad, one of the country's top mobile financial services (MFS) provider.

Impressed by Nagad's customer-friendly innovations, acquisition of over nine crore customers within just five years, and its unique business model, Goh Peng, the first tech billionaire in Southeast Asia, promptly expressed his interest.

Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and CEO of Nagad, recently received a warm invitation from Goh Peng. Mishuk also invited Goh Peng to Bangladesh during this courtesy call, the MFS provider said in a press release.

Goh Peng said they had previously received multiple proposals from different companies based in various South Asian countries, including Bangladesh and India, but had not found sufficient reason to integrate them into Silverlake.

Talking about Goh Peng and Silverlake Group's interest in partnering with Nagad, Mishuk said: "I think this is not only good news for Nagad, but for the whole of Bangladesh as it creates the possibility of a drastic change in the country's banking landscape.

"We believe it will eventually play a transformative role for millions of people in the country," he added.

According to the proposal, Silverlake Group will offer Nagad the opportunity to utilise its most advanced banking technologies.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2019 as a mobile financial service, Nagad is now preparing to emerge as the country's first digital bank in the middle of this year.