Latvian entrepreneur's bank Neo Georgian Group receives license to operate in Georgia

TBILISI. Oct 7 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has issued a banking license to JSC Neo Georgian Group, which will become the country's twentieth bank, the NBG reported on its website.

The bank will offer a full range of banking and financial services, accept deposits, provide consumer, mortgage and commercial financing, issue payment cards and carry out online payments, according to its approved charter.

Neo Georgian Group also plans to develop services related to the exchange, transfer and custody of virtual assets (crypto assets).

Neo Georgian Group's charter capital totals GEL61.3 million (about $23.5 million at current exchange rate) and is split into 100,000 ordinary shares with par value of GEL613, according to its founding documents.

This commercial bank is wholly owned by JSC Georgian First Digital Group, the sole shareholder of which is Latvian citizen Juris Leonenko, according to Georgia's business registry. Georgian First Digital Group was incorporated in April 2025 and Neo Georgian Group was founded in September 2025. The group had been waiting for the approval of its bank license application until now and will be able to begin banking operations once it is received.

Georgian media reported that Leonenko previously served on the supervisory boards of various companies in Georgia, including Askangel Alliance and RustavOil. He was a senior corporate banker at Baltic International Bank (Latvia) in 2016-2018 and held various positions at Cyprus-based RCB Bank from 2011 to 2015.

Leonenko is chairman of Neo Georgian Group's supervisory board. Grigory Morchiladze, the founder of investment group Foresight and CEO of the Pension Fund of Georgia, is deputy chairman. The third member of the board is Tamar Tkeshelashvili, who was Georgia's first deputy justice minister in 2021-2024 and has served on the board of governors of the Pension Fund since 2025.