Gojek Group Becomes Bank Jago Shareholder, Strives to Accelerate Financial Inclusion

Gojek The Group, through its subsidiary GoPay (PT Dompet Anak Karya Bangsa), has officially announced its investment in PT Jago Bank Tbk. As stated in the information disclosure of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), this investment is in the form of equity participation of 22%.

With the entry of GoPay, the composition of the other controlling shareholders in Bank Jago is PT Metamorfosis Ekosistem Indonesia (MEI) and Wealth Track Technology (WTT) with a 51% share. The rest is owned by the public at 27%.

Found in media briefings, CEO of Bank Jago Karim Siregar said, joining Gojek as a new shareholder is considered to be a synergistic partnership to realize the company's vision as tech-based banks. 

"We have all seen digital-based financial services increase due to Covid-19. timingits good when Bank Jago wants to start being tech-based banks. On the other hand, we assess that our vision is in line with the vision Gojek which will be reflected in future products and solutions," he said.

Meanwhile, in his official statement, Co-CEO Gojek Andre Soelistyo said that investment in Bank Jago is a long-term partnership that is expected to strengthen growth Gojek forward.

The main objective of this strategic collaboration is to accelerate financial inclusion. One of the initiatives is present banking services on the platform Gojek. That way, millions of subscribers Gojek expected to open an account directly at Bank Jago.

Bank Jago officially changed its name from Bank Artos in June 2020. Rebranding This is one of Bank Jago's strategies transforming into a digital bank after the acquisition by the investor group led by Jerry Ng and Patrick Waluyo through MEI and WTT.

The collaboration between GoPay and Bank Jago is claimed to be the first synergy between a digital bank and a platform great app in the Southeast Asian region.

Deputy CEO of Bank Jago Arief Harris added, there will still be knowledge transfer through this synergy. However, considering that GoPay is not a controlling share, there will be no change from the management side.

"We do not have experience at startup, likewise Gojek there is not any experience di banking. Here we complement each other," he said.

Strengthen collaboration in the digital ecosystem

Furthermore, said Karim, Bank Jago will commercialize the Life Finance Solution (LFS) financial application which is targeted to launch in early 2021. This platform is expected to be able to bridge the financial needs and lifestyle of the community in one application.

Meanwhile, the Business Finance Solution (BFS) service is said to be still in the development stage. This service will present digital lending which focuses on loans in the MSME and retail sectors. According to Karim, there are several partners who will become institutional lenders pada digital lending this.

To realize his vision, Karim said that his party will strengthen collaboration with various actors in the digital ecosystem. If you look at case studies in China and South Korea, he said, this kind of business model can be successful because of collaboration and not running alone.

"The banking sector used to think that they should be in every customer touch points. Not anymore because there is collaboration. That's why the key lies in technological capabilities which will be reflected in our strategy here omnichannel. We build our own technology and our team is strong enough to build this," he explained.

One of Bank Jago's focuses is optimizing collaboration through the Open API which will connect its services with the digital ecosystem. Currently, the Open API is still under development and is targeted to be realized in 2021.