Fino Payments Bank Q1 net profit soars 85%, gets board approval for SFB

Fino Payments Bank on Friday reported an 85 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 19 crore for the June 2023 quarter on treasury gains.

The Navi Mumbai-headquartered entity has received the board approval to apply for converting itself into a small finance bank, which will also allow it to undertake lending operations.

For the reporting quarter, its total income grew to Rs 348 crore from Rs 289 crore in the year-ago period, which included a more than doubling of the income on investments at Rs 25 crore.

The second payments bank to start operations reported an operating profit of Rs 23.28 crore from the treasury segment against Rs 13.38 crore in the year-ago period.

At an entity level, the operating profit margin widened to 11.6 per cent from 8.2 per cent a year ago, it said.

It had 14.4 lakh registered merchants and 82.9 lakh current and savings accounts as of June.

The bank, which added 2.5 lakh customers per month in FY23, saw 7.7 lakh bank accounts being opened during the reporting quarter.

"We intend to supplement payments bank business with lending to known customers through enhancement of license," its managing director and chief executive Rishi Gupta said, adding that the opportunity is significant given its network.

Its chief financial officer Ketan Merchant said the SFB will be different from existing players and will derive 75-80 per cent of its revenues from fees in the first few years of operation.

The Fino scrip on Friday closed 17.85 per cent up at Rs 343.90 apiece on BSE against a 0.16 per cent correction on the benchmark.