Honest Reportedly Received Investment from Orico

Honest Financial Technologies International (Honest Bank) reportedly received another investment from Orient Corporation (Orico). Quoting Alternatives.pe, from data that has been submitted to the regulator, this new investment is worth $18 million (around Rp. 278 billion).

When contacted regarding this matter, the President Director of PT Honest Financial Technologies, Dharu Estiningrum, did not provide any confirmation. "I have to coordinate with Orico first," he said via short message to DailySocial.id.

Previously, Honest Bank received strategic investment from Orico in June 2023 with a nominal value of $2 million (around Rp. 30 billion). This investment is said to mark Orico's debut to Indonesia with the target of launching the Orico virtual credit card with Honest at the end of 2023. Orico is a Japanese financing company that was founded in 1954.

Meanwhile, Honest Bank officially operates in Indonesia through its subsidiary PT Honest Financial Technologies by launching Honest Card, claimed to be a credit card without a number (numberless) first in Indonesia. The Honest application has been downloaded more than 500 thousand on the Google Play Store.

Currently, Honest has a payment service provider license from Bank Indonesia (BI). In addition, Honest is also registered as a finance company supervised by the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

Virtual credit cards are a payment tool that can be used for shopping without requiring a physical instrument. A number of financial institutions are now starting to introduce virtual credit cards as an approach to encourage penetration.

Bank Mandiri is one of the banks that allows users to apply for virtual credit cards via the Livin' Mandiri banking application. Therefore, the potential for the credit card business is said to still be very large considering that penetration is still low.

Based on reports Bank Indonesia, the banking credit card business throughout the first semester of 2023 grew 26,53% (YoY) to IDR 33,6 trillion. Meanwhile, the number of cards in circulation reached 17,59 million units.