Fino gets nod for remittance biz

Fino Payments Bank on Monday said it has received the central bank’s approval for commencing international remittance business under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS). The payments bank will be undertaking inward cross-border money transfer activities in association with an overseas principal, the details of which are being worked out, it said.

The customer segment of Fino Bank at the middle of the pyramid is targeted to families of people working in foreign countries. The money remitted by family members abroad can now be directly withdrawn at the nearest micro-ATM or AadhaarEnabled

Payment Services (AEPS)-enabled Fino Bank’s neighbourhood merchant point.

Ashish Ahuja, chief operating officer at Fino Payments Bank, said, “We will be ready to offer the inward remittance services to our customers by Q1 FY23. In sync with our digital strategy to enhance customer experience, we will also look at having this product on our mobile application as well.”

Fino merchants provide services such as new account opening, cash deposit, money transfer, cash withdrawal via micro-ATMs or AEPS mechanisms, and collect cash on behalf of various institutional clients among others.

“There is a major inward remittance corridor in states like Gujarat,

Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We already have scaled up our merchant presence in all these geographies”, added Ahuja.

Going forward, Fino Bank will be open to partnering with more leading money transfer operators (MTOs) to widen its horizon across different countries. The bank also has plans to commence outward remittance services in the near future.

Fino Bank has a network of over 8 lakh merchants across the country. In addition to international remittance, the bank has in the pipeline various cross sell offerings like mutual funds, loans, fixed deposits and others that are expected to contribute to its bottom line as part of its strategic vision of FY23 and beyond.