Calcutta: Three public sector banks — Union Bank of India, Indian Bank and Corporation Bank — and the Life Insurance Corporation have picked up a 30 per cent stake in Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd (Fino) for about Rs 35 crore. Fino provides cost-effective technology solutions to help banks and insurance companies garner business from remote areas without setting up branches or ATMs.
Foreign investors — International Finance Corporation, Legatum Global Development and Intel Capital — have invested about Rs 45 crore to pick up a 40 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based technology company. ICICI Bank, ICICI Lombard General Life Insurance Company and IFMR Trust hold the remaining 30 per cent stake.
Around three to four years ago, ICICI Bank incubated the technology company to provide core banking solutions to microfinance agencies, rural and co-operative banks, commercial banks and insurance companies for low income households in rural areas.
Fino provides automated banking, money transfer and other financial services through biometrics-authenticated personal card solutions. It has already completed pilot testing with some microfinance agencies, self-help groups and non-profit organisations in different states.
For instance, Grameen Sanchar Society (Grasso) in Bengal has introduced Fino’s point of transaction machines in 65 centres across six districts — east and west Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas — last month. This has enabled people living in remote areas to avail of basic banking services (deposits and withdrawals).
“Unlike an ATM, our point of transaction is a handheld machine which an operator carries to the doorstep of end customers, who are given biometric smart cards. On swiping the card, a customer gets the transaction options. For instance, if a customer selects the deposit option, the machine prints two slips — one for records of the customer and another for the operator.
Source: The Telegraph, India
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070531/asp/business/story_7854672.asp
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