AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB), India’s largest Small Finance Bank and the first institution in over a decade to receive in‑principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to transition into a Universal Bank, and Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL), one of India’s leading diversified financial services groups, today jointly announced a significant enhancement to their 3‑in‑1 Account proposition. The upgrade introduces a new fund‑blocking feature designed to make trading more seamless, efficient, and financially rewarding for investors.

A 3‑in‑1 account is an integrated banking solution that combines a savings account, a trading account, and a demat account into a single, seamless platform, allowing customers to manage their money, invest in shares, and hold securities without the need to move funds between different accounts.

The enhanced AU–Motilal Oswal 3‑in‑1 Account integrates AU SFB’s Savings Account directly with the Motilal Oswal Riise App, enabling customers to invest and trade without the need for repeated fund transfers between their bank account and trading platform.

Earlier, customers were required to manually transfer funds from their AU SFB Savings Account to their trading account before placing a trade. This approach presented two key challenges:

• Funds moved out of the Savings Account, resulting in a loss of savings account interest during the period between fund transfer and trade execution.
• Customers had to navigate the repetitive and time-consuming process of transferring funds each time they wished to trade.
• The unutilised funds would remain in the trading ledger for which payout request had to be placed

To make the process seamless, AU SFB and Motilal Oswal Financial Services have redesigned the experience from the ground up:

• Once a customer opens an AU–Motilal Oswal 3‑in‑1 Account, the AU Savings Account is seamlessly linked to the Motilal Oswal Riise App.
• At the time of placing a trade, only the required amount is placed on hold, instead of being transferred out of the Savings Account.
• The remaining balance continues to stay in the AU SFB Savings Account, allowing customers to earn savings account interest right up to trade execution.

This enhancement eliminates the need for customers to choose between earning interest and staying ready to trade; both now happen simultaneously. By removing operational friction and delivering a tangible financial benefit, the new feature makes trading simpler, more transparent, and more rewarding, particularly for active investors.

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Sanjay Agarwal, Founder, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank, said, "At AU, we continuously look for ways to remove friction from everyday banking and investing experiences. With this enhancement to our 3‑in‑1 Account, in partnership with Motilal Oswal, we have addressed a key customer pain point, ensuring that funds remain in the savings account and continue to earn interest until a trade is executed. By bringing together strong banking fundamentals with a seamless trading ecosystem, we are making investing simpler, more efficient, and more rewarding for customers. As we move forward on our journey towards becoming a Universal Bank, our focus remains on building thoughtful, customer‑centric solutions that combine convenience, transparency, and long‑term value.”

Ajay Menon, MD & CEO, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, "At Motilal Oswal, we believe that investor experience improves when operational friction is reduced. This enhancement to our 3-in-1 Account with AU SFB addresses the need to pre-transfer funds before trade execution, ensuring that customer funds remain in their savings account and continue to earn interest until the point of actual trade settlement. Our association with AU SFB is longstanding; as early-stage investors, we have observed AU's growth from a regional NBFC to India's largest Small Finance Bank, now awaiting transition to a Universal Bank. That history reflects a shared commitment to transparent, customer-centric financial services. This feature is a step toward making investing more efficient and financially optimal for our customers, and we look forward to deepening this partnership with AU."

The enhanced AU–Motilal Oswal 3‑in‑1 Account is expected to strongly appeal to both new‑to‑bank (NTB) and new‑to‑investing customers. For first‑time investors, the upgraded proposition offers a compelling combination of the safety and interest‑earning benefits of a bank savings account with the convenience of seamless trading access, all within a single integrated platform.

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