Fino Payments Bank has formally requested a small finance bank license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as announced by the regulatory body. The application was submitted in accordance with the Guidelines for ‘on tap’ Licensing of Small Finance Banks in the Private Sector, dated December 5, 2019.
The RBI disclosed that during the quarter concluding on December 31, 2023, it received a single application for such licensing from Fino Payments Bank Limited. The criteria for eligibility state that payment banks, under resident control and with a five-year operational history, can seek conversion into small finance banks by meeting the requisite legal and regulatory obligations.
Having commenced operations in 2017, Fino Payments Bank completed its fifth year in business in 2022. In July 2023, Rishi Gupta, the Managing Director and CEO, expressed the bank’s eagerness to transition into a small finance bank.
Fino Payments Bank operates as a subsidiary of Fino Paytech, enjoying support from investors like Bharat Petroleum, ICICI Group, Blackstone, IFC, Intel, and Life Insurance Corporation of India. Originally established as a remittance service provider, Fino Payments transformed its Fino Money Mart outlets into bank branches following the acquisition of the payments bank license. Notably, it is the sole payment bank listed on the stock exchanges.
This Mumbai-based institution follows an asset-light model, relying predominantly on income derived from fees, commissions, and strategic commercial relationships within its merchant network. Having maintained profitability since Q4 FY20, the payments platform recorded 121 crore transactions amounting to approximately ₹2.6-lakh crore in FY23, culminating in a yearly profit of ₹65 crore.
