Fino Payments Bank is eyeing 35%-40% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its low-cost current account and savings account (CASA) deposits in the current financial year, its chief financial officer Ketan Merchant told FE on Wednesday. As on December end, Fino Payments Bank’s total deposits grew 66% y-o-y to Rs 976 crore. Payments banks are allowed to offer up to Rs 200,000 and not allowed to lend credit.
“During 9MFY21 period, our average daily customer acquisition, or CASA growth was 3,011 accounts, for 9MFY22 it was 4,918 and during 9MFY23 we opened 7,770 accounts per day. We are opening anywhere around 250,000 accounts per month and we are aiming to further enhance it up,” Merchant said.
Also read: Delayed payments to MSMEs: How to file online complaint against govt departments, PSUs, other buyers
“Opening 1 account every 10 seconds is an excellent scenario and we will continue to keep it range bound…we are looking at a range of 35%-40% growth in FY24 (in CASA). Because every year we open new accounts, our renewal income keeps increasing. So if we can maintain the current customer acquisition momentum and do a bit of top-up it is pretty good… ,” he added.
The payment banks’ total customer account base as on December 31 was at 6.7 million, which it aims to grow to 20 million in the coming years. The merchant base, meanwhile, is expected to rise to 2 million in the medium term from 1.3 million presently, the CFO said.
“We are following a three-pronged strategy which is TAM (transaction, acquisition and monetising). We have approximately 25 million of unique customers footfall coming to our merchant points, which currently stand at around 1.3 million. So we convert these footfalls for transaction business, typically currently we are converting 1% of the footfall into our CASA. Our aim is first to take it to around 2.5%-3% and our aspiration is to aim for 4% to 5% conversion rate,” he said.
Fino Payments Bank will also look for partnerships with fintechs to enhance its digital offerings and will aim to launch its mutual fund business in partnership with Fisdom, a wealth tech platform.
“We are looking at some of the fintech partnerships where we can leverage our digital channels…we have approval from Reserve Bank of India for mutual fund distribution as well. We are looking at mutual fund partnership with Fisdom and take that forward this fiscal,” Merchant said.
When asked whether there is any update on the payment bank’s plans to apply for a small finance bank license, Merchant said Fino Payments Bank is eligible for an SFB license but is still exploring the opportunity for transition.
Also read: RBI proposing pre-approved bank credit on UPI will enable hassle-free credit for SMEs: SBI Ecowrap
“We are eligible (for applying for an SFB license) and will explore as and when it comes through. Our focus is to continue growing our existing business and at the same time keeping our eyes and ears open to the possibility…I am not currently in a position to put a time-frame but we will explore and there is a benefit which is essentially coming out in overall scenario. However, our growth will continue to happen irrespective of this,” Merchant said.