Fino Payments Bank launches Aadhaar Auth based Digital Savings account to offer Neo-Banking Experience

Fino Payments Bank today announced that it has launched Jan BachatKhata, an Aadhaar Authentication based digital savings account that brings neo-banking experience to consumers. 

With 90% of the country’s population having Aadhaar number, the Jan BachatKhata (JBK) is available to everyone who is comfortable with AadhaarAuth based banking on fingertips. However, the primary segment would be low income household families and beneficiaries of government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT). For this set of customers Aadhaar enabled payment system (AePS)has emerged as the preferred mode of transaction as it is convenient, secure and completely digital.

JBK was launched on 15^th August 2020 to commemorate India’s Independence Day driving customers towards financial independence and freedom of choice.The core insight behind JBK was making it very natural to carry the bank, everywhere– all that is needed is the thumb or finger print for authentication!Banking on fingertips – literally!

Terming JBK as freedom from dependency on debit card, Bharat Bhanushali, Head Products & Technology, Fino Payments Bank said, “AePS as a safe and convenient platform is perfectly in sync with our objective of making banking simple and hassle-free. For the millions of people who are not comfortable using debit card and PIN, Jan BachatKhatawith Aadhaarauthprovides new age digital banking experience. With AePS transactions gaining ground, we expect increased acceptance and aim to open around a million Jan BachatKhata accounts in FY21.”

According to NPCI data, AePS transactions in Q1 FY21 crossed 1205 million worth around Rs 53000 crores. This is a growth of 104 per cent in volume and more than 60 per cent in value over Q4 FY20.

“We believe the JBK account, which allows DBT facility, will surely increase usage of banking services among the target segment. The ease and convenience would be of special help to women consumers.”added Mr. Bhanushali. The product’s communication campaign which went live on 15^th August stresses on this.

JBK is in line with Fino’scustomer centric innovative offerings. Earlier the bank has introduced Shubh and Bhavishya, subscription-based savings accounts targeted at specific customer segments.

To open a JBK account all a customer has to do is SMS JBK to 8506978686 and the bank representatives will help complete the process. Customer can open a JBK account only through Aadhaar-based eKYC mode.

JBKeliminates the need for debit card and PIN thereby enhancing customerexperience.At a nominal annual subscription fee customers can enjoy a zero balance account with no MAB requirement, no debit card, ATM and SMS charges and full rights to access BPaymobile banking app. Further, customers can transact at a Fino branch or merchant point with finger print and OTP combination, while at non-Fino points they need Aadhaar authentication. They can deposit up to Rs 25000 and avail around ten free transactions in a month, without any charges. Customers can avail of sweep account facility with prior consent if end of the day account balance exceeds Rs lakh.    

Fino Payments Bank Opens more than 2 Lakh Full KYC Accounts during Lockdown, Aims 2.4 lakh by end of Q1 FY21

Fino Payments Bank Limited (FPBL) today announced that it has opened more than 2 lakh full KYC CASA accounts from April to mid-June amidst the pandemic. The bank expects to end Q1 FY21 with 2.4 lakh new accounts and an overall customer base of around 2 million. 

In addition Fino’s own customer base, the bank’s network of over 4lakh points provide services to over 20 million banking customers every month. The bank’s network, 80% of which is in rural areas, facilitates more than 35 million transactions valued at over USD 1 billion per month. 

The newly opened accounts will further help increase transactions and improve footfalls at Fino points. Around 80% of the new accounts are savings while 20% are current accounts.More than 90% of the accounts are from rural India driven largely by the over 2.5 crore people who banked at Fino points during this period. 

Terming the new accounts as a reflection of customer preference and choice, Shailesh Pandey, Chief Sales Officer, Fino Payments Bank said, “A significant number of people who opened accounts have experienced digital banking and availability of cash at our points. Also, outreach through digital and social media channels helped connect with millennials who form more than 50% of our new customers. We are grateful to our customers for giving us an opportunity to service them. In line with our COVID (creating opportunities in virus infected days) strategy, we will continue to explore ways to improve banking access, build partnerships, increase transactions and enhance customer experience.” 

Direct benefit transfer (DBT) beneficiaries formed the bulk of rural customers who experienced the convenience of micro ATM and AePS based banking at Fino points. Those who opened found linkingtheFino account easier to get government benefits compared to their existing accounts. This is an endorsement of Fino’s simple account opening process where customers are banking ready. 

At Fino banking points such as kirana stores, medical shops and BPCL outlets, customers can avail of services such as cash deposit, withdrawal, money transfer, bill payments, life, health and vehicle insurance. 

Recently, Fino Payments Bank announced turning profitable at the operating level for FY19-20. It is the only standalone profitable payments bank that works solely on RBI’s financial inclusion objective by improving banking access predominantly in rural India. 

Transactions have been the driving force behind Fino Payments Bank’s operating profit journey. In FY 19-20, FPB facilitated over Rs 1 lakh crore worth of transactions, doubling on the previous fiscal’s throughput. In terms of volume, transactions have almost doubled from 195 million in FY 18-19 to over 380 million in FY19-20.

The bank continues its growth momentum in FY 20-21 amidst the COVID challenges by facilitating digital transactions and forging partnerships in its quest to bring banking closer to the masses. 

Fino Payments Bank (FPB) is the only entity in its space that has experience in providing technology enabled banking services in unbanked and under banked areas. Promoted by Fino Paytech Ltd, FPB’s ‘phygital’ approach is backed by strong Distribution, Technology and Partnership strategy that makes banking simple, convenient and paperless. It has a nationwide digitally enabled distribution network of over 400,000banking points spread across 550 districts. This includes a significant number of outlets of Fino’s strategic partner Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and API partner network.

FPB provides banking services to its target customers using technology platforms such as Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS), mPOS devices, Micro ATMs, tablet or mobile. On the digital front, FPB offers mobile banking app BPay, online account opening, Netbanking and UPI.

Fino Payments Bank posts Q4 profit, ends FY20 with positive EBITDA

YoY revenue grows 86%, merchant network, transaction volume and value doubles

Mumbai, 20May, 2020: Fino Payments Bank Limited (FPBL) today announced that it turned profitable at the operating level for the financial year 2019-20. This feat is achieved within three years of the bank starting operations in July 2017.

This makes FPB the only standalone profitable payments bank that works solely on RBI’s financial inclusion objective by improving banking access predominantly in rural India.

Transactions have been the driving force behind Fino Payments Bank’s operating profit journey. In FY 19-20, FPB facilitated overRs1 lakh crore worth of transactions, doubling on the previous fiscal’s throughput. In terms of volume, transactions have almost doubled from 195 million in FY 18-19 to over 380 million in FY19-20.

Rishi Gupta, MD & CEO, Fino Payments Banksaid “Not having an asset product makes payments bank model risk free. We worked towards turning this perceivedliability and a payments only modelinto an asset. Our strategic focus on having a lean variable cost model riding on digital platforms, increasing transactions and high margin productsenabled us to grow by over 86% in FY19-20. With revenue of Rs 689 crores, we closed FY 19-20 with positive EBITDA and posted profit in Q4.”

“It is a path breaking achievement for us as we demonstrated the robustness of the bank’s business model amidst challenges and showcased the success ofservicing low income mass market customers. We believe this will be a watershed moment for Fino and the first of many profitable quarters to come. We aim to take the momentum forward and continue growing at a good pace to create value to all our stakeholders,” added Mr. Gupta.

Business drivers

For FPB domestic remittance (urban to rural) transactions accounted for over 40% of the FY19-20 throughput, making the bank a top five player in the IMPS business.

Further, FPB transformed the rural banking landscape by facilitating micro ATM and AePS led digital transactions (withdrawals), which contributed to over 30% to the business. The interoperable digital platforms allowed customers of all bankstransact at Fino points leading to a 4 times surge in withdrawals over the last fiscal.

As a result FPB figured consistently amongst the top 3 banks in MEITY’s (Ministry of Electronics & IT) digital payments monthly rankings for allbanks.

FPB expects increased adoption of digital platforms by its customers, 50% of whom are tech savvy millennials. As more people experienced the convenience of banking from Fino platform, the bank’s CASA customer baseincreased by over 65% inFY19-20.

Network

FPB’s strategy is to have a strong financial services distribution network. The bank doubled its network from less than a lakh in FY18-19 to close to 2 lakh points by the end of FY19-20, with around 80% presence in rural areas.

The bank also works with more than 50 API partners that have a collective network of 2 lakh points. This makes FPB’s combined (own plus partner) network around 4 lakh points. To further improve banking access, FPB plans to increase the network to 10 lakh outlets over the next 24-30 months.

COVID 19

FPB’s transactions-led business model helped it withstand the current business environment with minimal impact. In May the bank’s business is set to reach about 80% of the pre-lockdown value, aided by rise in DBT transactions andthe customer convenience of using FPB’s network. The bank expects to reach pre-COVID 19 business levels in the next couple of months.

Continuing its recovery path by aggressively on boarding merchants, facilitating transactions and reducing operating cost, FPB aims to hit profitability track in H1 20-21.

Snapshot: Among the top 5 banks in IMPS transactions Largest deployer of micro ATMs in the country with over 1.1 lakh devices Only payments bank to have a subscription based savings account Processes over Rs 1 lakh crore worth of transactions annually. Largest financial services distribution network in the country with a combined network (own plus partners) of over 4 lakh points. As of March 2020, savings deposits of Rs 222 crores. Among top 3 performing banks in facilitating digital transactions – MEITY ratings

Fino Paytech Invests in Mumbai-based Fintech Startup CityCash

Fino Paytech, the payments technology company and promoter of Fino Payments Bank, today announced that it has invested in CityCash (Tap Smart Data Information Services Private Limited), a Mumbai-based fintech start-up, for an undisclosed stake.

The investment is in line with Fino’s strategy of providing banking and payments solutions to emerging India.

The two companies have joined hands to design an ecosystem for payments wherein Fino will be the issuance and settlement institution of the prepaid payment instrument and CityCash will offer its NFC-based cashless payments technology and micro-payment merchant acquisition.

India’s public transport system of 150000 buses carries over 70 million commuters every day, clocking an annual turnover of about INR 50000 crores, of which 95% transactions happen in cash.

There is a massive opportunity to digitise this sector using low cost NFC based TAP and PAY solution on the lines of highly successful Oyster card of London and Octopus card of Hong Kong. Customers can similarly use Fino and CityCash co-branded card for all retail micro-payments apart from other transport payments such as for auto and cabs.

The partnership with Fino shall bring the most extensive network of BC agents across the country to enable physical card issuance and on-going service of the customers. Some large state and city bus corporations have shown tremendous interest in the Fino and CityCash payment solution and implementation is at advanced stages.

As a part of its digital strategy to engage with customers, Fino has already launched a suite of products such as RuPay debit cards, mobile banking app BPay, UPI, Net banking and FasTag for toll payments.

These products along with NFC based tap and pay solutions would allow Fino to reach out and facilitate digital payments for a wider segment in line with Digital India initiative of the Government.

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