Dec 5 (Reuters) – India’s Fino Payments Bank received “in-principle” approval to transition into a small finance bank, the country’s central bank said on Friday.
The transition will allow Fino Payments Bank to accept larger deposits, provide loans and credit facilities to individuals and small businesses, and expand its customer base and services, which are currently restricted for payments banks.
According to regulations, existing payments banks that are controlled by Indian residents and have completed five years of operations are eligible for conversion into small finance banks.
“The application of Fino Payments Bank was assessed as per the procedure laid down in the guidelines,” Reserve Bank of India said in a statement.
Initially launched as a fintech firm, Fino transitioned to a payments bank in 2017, and has a customer base of 16 million as of September-end providing.
(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
