1. Startups

Grab, EMTEK, and Singtel to Soon Realize Digital Banks in Indonesia

In early 2022, Grab and Singtel officially joined as strategic investors in Bank Fama owned by EMTEK

Grab, EMTEK, and Singtel are reported to be realizing their digital banks in Indonesia soon. This news has been blowing since Grab and Singtel officially joined as strategic investors Fame Bank owned by EMTEK in January 2022. This strategic investment is said to be in the context of business acceleration and development as well as Bank Fama's digital ecosystem.

This was further strengthened by the statement from the President Director of Bank Fama International Tigor M. Siahaan who said that his party was preparing the company to carry out rebranding become a digital bank in 2023.

Quoted from the company's website, Tigor revealed that his entire team is currently undergoing a transformation in terms of process, set-up, tech, and recruitment of human resources (HR). "So we also recruit a lot of human resources who we hope can become a bridge for this digital transformation," he said.

This transition will be carried out starting from moving the headquarters of Bank Fama which has been established since 1993 in Bandung, West Java to DKI Jakarta in order to facilitate the transformation process to a digital bank.

Apart from that, Bank Fama is also said to be launching its new digital-based product in the middle of next year. Tigor himself does not want to divulge further details regarding the details of this new product. However, in carrying out this rebranding, Bank Fama is said to be utilizing the digital ecosystem of its shareholders, including EMTEK, Grab, and SingTel.

The trend of digital banking in Indonesia has started a long time ago, both in the form of new banks and conversions from existing banks (Existing). Jenius from Bank BTPN to become a pioneer of digital banking which was introduced in 2016. Several other players are already operating, including Jago Bank, Digibank, and Allo Bank.

According to Global Industry Analysts Inc., the global market size for digital banks is estimated to have reached $12,1 billion in 2020. It is projected to grow to $30,1 billion in 2026 with a CAGR of 15,7%. The retail banking segment is expected to experience the largest growth at a 14,3% CAGR, valued at $14,3 billion.

Digital bank that focuses on MSMEs

Apart from having the ambition to become a digital bank, Bank Fama is also said to be targeting the segment underbanked in Indonesia. Bank Fama itself has several office networks online in Bandung, Jakarta and Tangerang with a market focus on the retail segment, especially MSMEs.

According to Tigor, segment underbanked This sector has great potential to be developed, especially if this segment can be developed then the contribution to the Indonesian economy will be very large. The hope is to be able to create solutions from both the merchant, restaurant, driver or customer side.

The plan is for Bank Fama to utilize MSME data underbanked from shareholders who have expertise in their respective fields, namely the EMTEK Group in the media sector online, offlineand streaming; then Grab in the field ride hailing, food delivery, payment systems, and health; and Singtel in telecommunication and its derivatives.

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Furthermore, Bank Fama will assess which MSMEs can be given loan facilities to develop their business. One of the main challenges for MSME actors is access to capital from conventional banks. This is because MSMEs do not have proper requirements such as financial reports to assess whether a business can be given a loan or not.

With the data owned by the shareholders of Bank Fama, it can be seen how the business performance of an MSME is. For example, it can be seen from business ratings, income records, and so on.

With digital financial services supported by a strong ecosystem and network, as well as a vision to educate and empower the financial capacity of the Indonesian people, it is hoped that more people will underbanked who realize the huge potential of digital banking. Bank Fama itself has a big mission to support people's productivity and economic growth in Indonesia.

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