Telenor banka, Serbia’s “first mobile and online bank”, has opened 50,000 current accounts in the first six months of operation, it has announced.

Telenor Group, which entered Serbia in 2006, bought KBC Banka in 2013 and launched Telenor banka in September last year with the aim of “the digitalisation of cash payments and the convenience of online and mobile banking” and to “encourage more consumers of the nation of 7 million people to save via bank accounts, build credit histories, and pay for transactions digitally versus cash.”

According to Martin Navratil, managing director at Telenor banka, it is now one of the fastest growing mobile banks in the CEE region.

Since the bank first launched its operation, mobile banking has seen a quarterly growth from 6-12 per cent to 24-31 per cent, according to the statistics of the National Bank of Serbia, a statement by the bank said.

Telenor claims to be the largest individual investor in Serbia with an initial investment of €1.53 billion.

It also co-owns Easypaisa in Pakistan, a mobile financial service attracting six million users every month, and last month the telecoms group said Hungary, Myanmar and others are in the pipeline for such services.