Financial technologies player Paytm Bank today ruled out joining the rate war in the savings account interest rate space when it launches its payments bank, instead, it will focus on increasing revenue-accretive transactions.
“Obviously, we do not want our customers to lose money if they are keeping their money with us, but at the same time we dont want to fight a war on interest rates,” Shinjini Kumar, CEO of the Paytm payments bank venture, told reporters.
Kumar, who just joined the bank from consultancy major Pricewaterhouse Coopers, explained that it is “counter intuitive” for a payments bank to offer higher interest rates as it has restrictions on how it uses the deposits.
“It is very counter-intuitive for a payments bank to offer higher rate of interest on savings because they will just park the money. I am interested in the money that does things, I am not interested in money that sits. Money that sits is not good for me because I am not earning anything much on the float,” she said.
It can be noted that payment banks are required to park 75 percent of their deposits in the safer but low yielding fixed income instruments. They are also not allowed to use their deposits for lending.
The comments come amid a race within the commercial banks to woo customers with higher interest rates on savings accounts, through which they target to forge sticky relationships that also helps cross-sell other financial products.
Foreign lender DBS Bank recently launched a product offering 7.1 per cent without any ceiling on the quantum, while private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank said it will continue with the 6 percent interest rate. Yes Bank also offers similar interest rates on deposits of over Rs 1 lakh.
Kumar said the aim of the forthcoming payments bank is to solve the “friction” in banking through newer, innovative strategies and get more people into the banking fold.