“We have 1,163 branches and a headcount of 11,831 across 22 states and Union territories serving 3.5 million clients and a strong presence throughout Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, the north-east, and Madhya Pradesh. We are well positioned to be an SFB,” said H P Singh, chairman and managing director of SCNL, a micro-finance institution (MFI). SCNL is the first MFI to publicly state that it will apply for an on-tap SFB licence. Set up in 1990 as a vendor of loans to individuals and small businesses, it was registered as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) with the RBI in 1998 and convert to an NBFC-MFI in November 2013. It has three subsidiaries — Satin Finserv Ltd (SFL), Satin Housing Finance Ltd (SHFL), and Taraashna Services Ltd (TSL).  <