OVO and BRI Announce Co-Brand Credit Card "OVO U Card"

OVO is the next company to announce co-branding credit card with bank. This time, Bank BRI became the partner that was partnered with in presenting the "OVO U Card". This credit card targets the younger generation and digital natives to gain easy access to digital transactions.

According to research results revealed Brilio.net along with JakPat Mobile Survey, as many as 59% of the majority of the younger generation in Indonesia, especially the upper middle class, prefer cashless transactions, including credit cards. In fact, as much as 63% of the younger generation like their need for a credit card, but some state that they have difficulty getting access. In addition, the results of the BCG survey stated that credit card penetration in Indonesia is still relatively low at around 6%.

“The launch of the OVO U Card underscores the closer synergy between the banking industry and the banking industry fintech in encouraging economic growth, especially for millennial users who make up the majority, including OVO users of which 63% are millennials. Service in OVO app become more complete with the seamless integration between OVO and BRI which allows users to fully manage OVO U Card transactions in the OVO application," said OVO President Director Karaniya Dharmasaputra in an official statement, Monday (6/12).

The OVO U Card is designed as a product that is easy to access and manage, to manage installment schedules, browse available programs from BRI and the OVO ecosystem and Grab, and view transaction history. Cardholders can also enjoy extras rewards and benefits of the two ecosystems, transaction access is more convenient for a variety of services and offers from various popular merchants, and is free of annual fees for life.

So far, the only OVO U Card credit card can be enjoyed by selected users who have a good transaction history on the OVO application. For the convenience of the submission and verification process, it is done through the OVO application within a maximum of 1 working day. Users can also easily convert transactions into 0% installments for up to 12 months. Not only that, with the Mastercard network, credit cards can be used for transactions abroad.

For the record, earlier Grab also conducted a similar cooperation with Bank Danamon. The offers provided are also more or less the same, for example auto upgrade membership status in the application Grab menjadi Grab Platinum and get priority booking GrabCar, convert transactions into installments of up to 36 months, and so on.

BRI also cooperates with Traveloka in providing Traveloka PayLater. Other banks, Bank Mandiri also together with Shopee and Traveloka. Then, BCA with Blibli and Tiket.com.

It's easier to have a credit card

In the past, credit cards were premium items because they could only be owned by customers "privilege". This is reasonable because banks must be responsible for distributing loans sourced from public funds.

This condition finally makes growth stagnate from year to year. Data from Bank Indonesia revealed, in May 2021, the value of credit card transactions was recorded at Rp. 19,7 trillion. That number slightly decreased by 1,6% compared to the previous month of Rp20 trillion. Despite the decline, the total volume of transactions with credit cards increased, the number rose 0,9% from 23,3 million transactions in April 2021 to 23,5 million transactions in May 2021.

Credit card transactions dropped significantly during the pandemic, due to restrictions on community activities. Its values ​​began to improve in late 2020 and March 2021, but have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, electronic money is increasingly being used by the public. The transaction value reached the highest figure of IDR 23,7 trillion in the past year in May 2021.

In response to this condition, a technology company that collaborated with banks to release credit card products was finally answered. Armed with data from customers who regularly pay and are diligent in transactions, they offer credit cards so that their users can "grade up."