Jio Financial Services (JFSL) has acquired the entire 17.8% stake held by the State Bank of India in Jio Payments Bank.

This makes the digital bank a wholly-owned subsidiary of JFSL.

Initially, Jio Payments Bank was a joint venture between JFSL, which held 82.17%, and SBI.

The deal, valued at Rs1.04bn ($12.05m), received approval from the Reserve Bank of India earlier this month.

The acquisition was announced in March, when it was said that it involves a total of 7,90,80,000 equity shares.

This acquisition marks a major corporate restructuring for JFSL, as Jio Payments Bank is now fully integrated under Reliance’s financial umbrella.

The move is seen as part of Reliance’s broader strategy to gain complete control over its fintech operations.

Days before this announcement, Jio BlackRock Mutual Fund launched Aladdin, a global risk-management platform in India.

This platform is part of a 50:50 joint venture between JFSL and BlackRock.

Full ownership of Jio Payments Bank provides JFSL with greater autonomy in integrating digital banking with other financial services.

The synergy between Jio Payments Bank and Jio BlackRock Mutual Fund could foster a unified digital finance ecosystem.

This strategic alignment supports Jio’s digital-first, data-driven approach, leveraging BlackRock’s investment expertise.

The introduction of Aladdin represents the first time this advanced analytics and risk management platform is being made available in India.

Meanwhile, in October 2024, JFSL announced that the upgraded version of the JioFinance App is available on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and MyJio.