Fino Payments Bank sees loan referrals surge 367% as new accounts fall 22%
Fino Payments Bank’s August update showed average deposits up 12% year-on-year to ₹2,821 crore and loan referral disbursals up 367% to ₹243 crore. New deposit accounts, renewal income and transaction throughput declined as the bank recalibrates B2B UPI services ahead of its proposed small finance bank transition.
What happened
Fino Payments Bank reported August deposit growth and sharply higher loan referrals, while new accounts, renewal income and transaction throughput declined. The
Key facts
- Average deposits: ₹2,821 crore, up 12% YoY
- New deposit accounts: 2.43 lakh, down 22% YoY
- Renewal income: ₹22.8 crore, down 4% YoY
- Transaction throughput: ₹3,770 crore, down 19% YoY
- Loan referral disbursals: ₹243 crore, up 367% YoY
- Cash management throughput: ₹6,669 crore, up 17% YoY
- Digitally active customers: 65.6 lakh, up 15% YoY
- FinoPay active customers: 8.1 lakh, up 13% YoY
- Q1FY27 net loss: ₹13.7 crore
- Q1FY27 net interest income: ₹36.9 crore, up 13.1% YoY
Why this matters
Fino’s transition creates partnership potential around lending distribution, deposits and UPI infrastructure, with its expanding ₹243 crore referral-disbursal channel offset by weakening customer acquisition and transaction metrics.
What to watch
- Whether new deposit account additions recover from the 22% year-on-year decline over the next two monthly updates.
- Sustainability of loan referral disbursals above the ₹243 crore August level, including approval rates, repeat borrowers and referral fee yield.
- Trend in average deposits versus account growth; continued deposit expansion despite lower additions would indicate stronger customer balances and retention.
- Recovery or further decline in renewal income and transaction throughput after B2B UPI recalibration.
- Any RBI, board or capital-raising update that advances or delays the small finance bank transition.
- Evidence that outlet/merchant productivity is improving, such as transactions per banking point, active outlets and digital payment volumes.
- Increase cross-selling of partner loans to existing deposit customers, merchants and banking outlets while monitoring credit quality and partner approval rates.
- Reprice or redesign B2B UPI offerings to restore transaction throughput without subsidizing low-margin volumes.
- Defend deposit growth through outlet incentives, recurring-account activation and targeted savings products ahead of any small finance bank conversion.
- Use the referral surge to negotiate better economics, broader product coverage and faster disbursal integration with lending partners.
- Provide clearer milestones on the proposed small finance bank transition, including capital, regulatory, technology and branch-network implications.