Equitas Small Finance Bank is planning to launch several digital initiatives on top of its current infrastructure including merchant current account, insurance-tech platform and digital personal loans, Murali Vaidyanathan, the bank’s country head of branch banking, liabilities, products and wealth said in an interaction. The lender is in the process of development and integration of some of the products and expects to start rolling them out in 2023, he added.

“We want to take that space of leveraging digital and technology for the growth and prosperity of the bank as an approach,” he said.

Currently, the bank’s liability side is entirely driven through a digital product ‘Selfe’, through which customer can open an account remotely. The bank also has tie-ups with fintech startups such as NiyoX and Freo Save, through which the bank receives deposits from investment-centric and first-time borrowers. The lender is also currently in the final stages of concluding partnerships with two more fintechs to raise more deposits, he said.

Through the merchant current account platform, the bank is planning to increase the current account deposit base, which is at a lower side as of now. As of June 30, the current account deposits of the bank stood at 3% of the total deposit base. The bank aims to ramp up its current account deposits through the new addition, where any merchant can open a digital current account.

Secondly, the bank will operate its insurance business through an open architecture platform and will offer life, health and general insurance products to its customers. The lender has tied up with three insurers in each bucket including players such as ICICI Group, HDFC Ergo and Reliance General Insurance. Thirdly, the bank has also launched digital personal loans, through which customers can transact remotely.

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Another major initiative the bank is planning is launch of its own credit cards and the project is at an initial stage, Vaidyanathan said, without divulging further details. The bank has partnered with HDFC Bank to offer white-label credit cards, where the latter will issue cards to customers of Equitas Small Finance Bank but the outstanding will remain on HDFC Bank books. Last year, the bank’s peer AU Small Finance Bank launched its credit cards and has so far issued 225,000 cards.

The bank has also increased its presence in the micro automated teller machines (ATM) in the underserved areas and has tied up with a technology company for fastag acquiring. The lender is also planning to leverage on its existing partnership with Neokred to distribute more prepaid products, Vaidyanathan said.

The bank has also launched gold loans on pilot basis through 130 branches in southern India and a few branches in northern and western India. It plans to expand the product in the next year and is targeting Rs 350-400 crore of lending.

On business side, the bank’s vehicle finance and small business loan segment will continue to drive loan growth, Vaidyanathan said. These two segments contribute 24% and 38%, respectively, of total loan portfolio. With microfinance loans consisting of 18% of the total book, around 80-85% loans of the banks are secured.