Slice shifts focus to secured loans in fintech-to-bank pivot

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Since its merger-led transition into a bank in 2024, Slice has been moving away from an almost fully unsecured lending portfolio to a large, secured loan book, the bank’s top executive told Mint. Managing director and chief executive Rajan Bajaj said secured lending, which currently accounts for about 22% of the company’s portfolio, is expected to become the dominant segment over the next decade.“For us, secured business is growing faster than unsecured and will continue this way.

Long term, the majority of the book will be secured and diversified,” Bajaj said.Slice, which built its early business on unsecured consumer credit, is now leveraging its banking licence to expand into asset-backed segments. Founded in 2016 by Bajaj, the consumer fintech startup became a regulated bank after merging with North East Small Finance Bank in 2024.At the time of the merger, secured lending accounted for just about 4% of the total loan book, largely from the small finance bank, while Slice itself had no secured portfolio.

In FY26, Slice’s assets under management rose 78% year-on-year to ₹4,554 crore.Like most financial services firms, lending remains a key revenue driver for the company. “Loan against property is going to be a big segment for us.

Embedded finance is another area where we want to be the partner of choice,” Bajaj said. “We are now also seeing very strong results on the merchant side where we are doing secured loans and loans to small merchants.”Slice, however, did not share details of all sub-segments within its secured lending portfolio and the size of each.As a bank, the company also operates in savings and payment, and merchant services, apart from lending.