Why is fintech unicorn Slice buying a loss-making small finance bank?

Slice, a credit and payments unicorn, has announced its merger with Guwahati-based North East Small Finance Bank, in a rare instance of a fintech company entering the banking sector. But considering the bank has no attractive assets, why is Slice interested in it, and what signal is the RBI sending with allowing this 'backdoor entry' into banking? Forbes India's Samar Srivastava and Salil Panchal hazard some calculated guesses, and talk about why there are more questions than answers