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Fino Payments Bank is taking partnership route to expand product offerings and increase earnings. Fino has partnered with various banks to source gold loans as third party product.

According to World Gold Council report, in 2016 around 1,250 tonnes of gold was used in India as collateral, largely (around 60%) with informal lenders such as pawnbrokers, to raise funds. With increasing banking access, demonetization and digital push, formal sector is gaining ground in semi-urban and rural areas to give gold loans. Fino Payments Bank is well placed to tap this traditional route to raise funds for personal as well as business expenses, especially among middle and low income households.

Towards this endeavor, Fino Payments Bank has partnered with banks to source gold loans on their behalf across all its 410 branches as well as the huge network of access points. Fino Payments Bank has already sourced gold loans worth Rs 200 crores for around 30,000 customers. The average ticket size is around Rs 1 lakh depending on geographies.

Mr. Rajeev Arora, Chief Operating Officer, Fino Payments Bank said, “In addition to increasing our deposit base and banking transactions, our focus is on cross selling third party products for revenue growth. Gold loan sourcing received tremendous response from our customers across rural and urban areas. We plan to end this fiscal at around Rs 500 crore and target gold loan sourcing worth Rs 1500 crore in FY 2018-19. We will continue working with our partners to add more customer-centric products, especially in the loan space, that allow enhanced customer engagement and create value for all stakeholders.”

“We are aggressively pursuing cross sell that will contribute significantly to our revenues. This fiscal we expect 20% of our total revenues coming in from selling third party products,” added Mr.Arora.

As a partner of banks, Fino Payments Bank through its branch and field network connects with people in its catchment areas who are in need of funds. Anyone who owns gold and can keep it as collateral is eligible to apply for a gold loan. Fino shares leads of such customers with partner bank, whose representative will complete the rest of the process with the customer, including approval, disbursal and loan recovery. Fino acts as a facilitator between gold loan issuing bank and the customer.

Going forward, Fino would look at facilitating two-wheeler, three-wheeler and consumer durable loans for its partners. It is in line with its strategy to provide its customers a range of financial products and services under one roof. Fino already provides domestic remittance, insurance, bill payments and mobile / DTH recharge services at its branches and access points.