Sea Group Recruits Teams in Indonesia to Encourage Digital Bank Presence

In early December, Sea Group, Shopee's parent company, was granted a full digital banking license in Singapore, along with a consortium Grab-Singtel, in a move expected to pave the way for the country's financial industry.

Apart from Singapore, Indonesia — the largest economy in Southeast Asia — is also a hot market for fintech and digital banks. KrASIA found that Sea Group is most likely to acquire a local lender in the country to establish its own banking business. According to Shopee career site (closed when accessed at this time), the company is currently recruiting a local team to be placed at "SeaMoney Bank" in Jakarta and Bandung, covering talent management, tax and funding management roles.

When asked about this, Sea Group declined to comment. The company also did not comment on the increase in hiring in Jakarta and Bandung. The career page indicates that the new team will be placed at “SeaMoney - Bank BKE (part of the Sea Group), located in Menteng, Central Jakarta”. This means that the company in question could be the Economic Welfare Bank (BKE), which is headquartered in Menteng.

According to its website, Bank BKE was founded in 1992 and almost 95% of its shares are owned by a company called Danadipa Artha Indonesia. Public information about shareholders is still minimal, but one of the directors of Danadipa Artha Indonesia named Intan Apriadi also serves as a commissioner at Lentera Dana Nusantara, according to her LinkedIn profile. Lentera Dana Nusantara is a fintech company that operates ShopeePay Later. Therefore, it is very likely that Sea has a direct relationship to Bank BKE through Danadipa Artha Indonesia.

According to an analyst who knows this, the development of digital banking in Indonesia is different from that in Singapore. "In Singapore, new fintech players will apply for bank opening permits, while in Indonesia, prospective digital banks acquire local banks that already have permits," he said.

Digital banking is becoming a sector that is getting more attention

It is currently unclear what products will be offered by the Sea digital bank in Indonesia. Career site Shopee simply mentions that SeaMoney "enables and fosters innovation by providing a wide range of financial products and services to individuals and SMEs across the region".

Analysts who discussed with KrASIA said that the new bank is likely to offer loans for sellers in the Shopee ecosystem. “For tech companies like Shopee and Gojek"I hope banking services can help people who are already in the ecosystem," he said. “For example, the driver Gojek looking for car or motorbike loans, or even housing loans. Likewise, Sea bank will most likely offer products for Shopee sellers in the future."

As the fintech sector matures, digital banking will become a very attractive sector in Indonesia. Other tech companies are already positioning themselves in the market. Gojek recently invested in Bank Jago through its payments and financial services unit, which owns about 22% of the lender. In 2019, fintech companies Akulaku acquired Bank Yudha Bhakti, which changed its name to Bank Neo Commerce last year.

-This article was first released by KrASIA. Re-released in Indonesian as part of the collaboration with DailySocial