Communal Acquisition of BPR from Kediri, Served as a Pilot and Innovation Lab

BPR Prima Dadi Arta is now officially part of the startup p2p loans Communal, after obtaining an effective permit from OJK which has been issued since February 2022. The company will make this BPR from Kediri, East Java a pilot BPR as well as an innovation laboratory for the development of BPR solutions in Indonesia so that they can operate efficiently, and are integrated with the Communal ecosystem.

"Before we had a BPR, it took a long time to introduce innovation to the OJK because our position was not as a BPR but as a bank." fintech. There are many parties that we must convince and cannot be forced. But when the position has become a BPR, we can more easily present in front of the OJK and can sharing to other BPRs too,” said the Co-founder and CEO Communal Hendry Lieviant when contacted DailySocial.id, Tuesday (12/4).

Previously, the announcement of this corporate action plan was announced in November 2021. Quoting from Bisnis.com, Komunal acquired 100% shares of BPR Prima Dadi Arta on behalf of its director and founder, namely Hendry Lieviant (34%), Rico Tedyono (33%), and Kendrick Winoto (33%). The three of them took over the ownership of BPR shares previously held by Peter Lumanpauw, Arthur Lumanpau, Elsye Susana, and Fendy with a total nominal share of IDR 2,7 billion.

Hendry continued, the digital innovation area carried out by Communal for BPRs did not want to be far from the DNA of BPRs as specialists in the savings and loan and credit business. This is intended by adding digital solutions, which can make BPRs grow efficiently, safely, and encourage people to put their funds in BPRs.

“This so cycle, people want to save funds in the BPR, the BPR will grow bigger, the local economy will be helped even more. Because we believe, in that area all must walk together, road, digital bank goes, thus financial inclusion will run much faster.”

With the ambition to become a pilot BPR, he continued, for funding matters in the BPR industry, you can fully rely on the presence of fintech startups. The capable data analytic capabilities of startups can help BPRs channel credit efficiently, but while still prioritizing the prudential aspect.

Industrially, BPRs operating in Indonesia are around 1.500 with a total of 5.800 branch offices. He also detailed that about 5.500 of the total BPR branch offices are equivalent to the branches of five major banks in Indonesia. Namely, Bank Mandiri, BCA, CIMB Niaga, BTPN, and BTN.

“Of that figure, 97% are outside Jabodetabek and Banten, located in second- and third-tier cities. So there is still a lot of potential that can be developed, as long as they [BPR] want to develop. So, this BPR Deposit is the first step and can be a solution win-win for all."

One of the implementations that will be carried out through BPR Prima Dadi Arta is e-bilyet. Hendry said that the issuance of bilyets was now irrelevant to developments in the digital era. Bilyet is a physical document to prove the validity of a deposit owned by a person is genuine.

For example, BPRs in Bali must send physical bilyets to depositors located in Jakarta, and vice versa when depositors want to withdraw their deposits. As a result, the logistics costs must be borne by the consumer. His party is submitting the licensing process for e-bilyet at OJK.

“There are many other ways to solve that issue. However, this activity has been carried out by a BPR that has been operating for decades. We want to break the e-bilyet innovation that was so successful at BPR Prima Arta Dadi, we want to invite others."

The inauguration of the DepositoBPR application

Last week (7/4), Komunal inaugurated the DepositoBPR application to connect various BPRs and customers throughout Indonesia who wish to open BPR Deposits online. This product was pioneered through the Communal subsidiary (PT Komunal Finansial Indonesia), namely PT. Communal Sejahtera Indonesia which has been registered with the OJK as the organizer digital finance innovation (IKD).

Hendry explained that so far, Communal has succeeded in distributing customer funds worth Rp. 500 billion to BPR partners who have collaborated with Communal. It was stated that DepositoBPR had collaborated with 110 BPRs, with a distribution of about 50% concentrated in the East Java area, the rest spread over the islands of Java and Bali.

“We want to deepen the penetration of rural banks outside Java and Bali, in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. We only have 1 BPR each working together for each of the islands. Although this small amount does not mean that there are no BPRs there, but no one has wanted to go there. This is our chance.”

All BPRs that have collaborated with this company have previously been sorted out by the company, only those who have been registered with the LPS. DepositoBPR can be downloaded through the App Store and Play Store, offering deposit interest up to 6% per annum and guaranteed by the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) of up to Rp2 billion.