Fino Payments Bank to increase touchpoints in West Bengal, North-East

Fino Payments Bank, which started operations in 2017, will increase the number of touchpoints across West Bengal and the North Eastern part of the country, an official said here on Monday. Presently, the bank has around 35,000 touchpoints across all the districts in West Bengal, Darpan Anand, senior divisional head (North and East), told reporters here.

There are close to nearly 15 lakh such touchpoints of Fino across the country. These touchpoints provide banking services using micro-ATM and Aadhaar-enabled payment systems.

Anand said the touchpoints are mainly located in the industrial hubs and rural areas.

Payment banks can take deposits, allow withdrawals and carry out other banking activities except lending, he said.

Anand said Fino also applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for getting the license of a small finance bank (SFB) last month.

Lending is allowed by an SFB which will help in expanding its business, he said. Listed on the bourses two years ago, some of the major investors of Fino Payments Bank include Bharat Petroleum Corporation, IFC and Blackstone among others.