BharatPe Partners with Centrum, Will Give Fintechs Tech, Integration Support

BharatPe said on Friday that it has partnered with Centrum Finance in a new bank, as part of the PMC Bank rescue. This will enable it to provide a tech platform for all fintechs, the company said.

BharatPe to Provide a Tech Platform for all Fintechs

The statement said that Resilient Innovations, the tech company that owns the BharatPe trademark, will bring in half of the ₹900-crore startup capital. This capital will help it set up a new small finance bank together with Centrum Financial Services. This new bank will take over the failed PMC Bank.

Centrum will contribute its share, which will include assets of the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). It will organize a slump sale to the proposed small bank, allowing it to transfer the said assets.

BharatPe group president Suhail Sameer elaborated how the banking operations will dovetail with BharatPe’s merchant-acquisition business while talking to TOI. Sameer said that the bank will provide full stack and tech support to fintechs by providing API integration. He also said that the companies plan to make the new bank a fully digital one.

The Group President said, "what we will bring is the tech platform. This allows us to build products that will be relevant for the fintech universe… build products that a Cred or Zeta could use and benefit the wider ecosystem. Given that we own the bank one way or the other, the benefits will flow to us".

These integration will allow BharatPe to make merchant acquisition seamless. This move will address issues such as KYC, which currently takes time.

While the new bank will start with a stock of loans due to the integration of Centrum, both partners are clear that the way forward will be digital. This will require an overhaul of the IT system, but the new bank will run on the existing core banking platform and add functionality by adding IT services from other providers.

"Our loan offer generation and closure will become seamless. Generating deposits for the bank will become easier by creating current accounts and savings accounts", said Sameer. He further added BharatPe can now offer products like credit cards and overdraft. Notably, the company could not offer these products earlier.

“We can democratise credit to the small merchant and share customers with the bank without fear of losing them. The bank, meanwhile, can rely upon us for credit underwriting as we are 50% shareholders. The integration will improve the bank’s underwriting ability,” he added.

BharatPe expects to start onboarding merchants to the bank within six months.

Sameer added, "we acquire around four lakh merchants every month. Even if a fourth of them are on-boarded to the bank, it will be one lakh additions a month".