Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) is one of Indonesia’s largest banks with over 10,000 offices across Indonesia and is the biggest microfinance lender in the ASEAN region. Founded in 1895, it is the oldest bank In Indonesia catering to approximately 30 million retail clients through over 4,000 branches, units, and rural service posts. Bank BRI is focused on increasing financial inclusion among un-banked Indonesians.

Finacle is the industry-leading digital banking solution suite from EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly owned product subsidiary of Infosys. Banks in over 100 countries use Finacle to service more than a billion consumers and 1.3 billion accounts. Finacle offers a cloud-agnostic and componentized digital banking solution suite that spans across the entire stack covering digital business engines, digital engagement, and digital experiences suite.

Project Scope:

Bank BRI wanted to create a digital-first lending product to fast track the credit process and disburse loans in just minutes. One of the key challenges was to facilitate consumer credit digitally, without the need to visit branches, with the same quality of loans disbursed. The bank also wanted to create an ecosystem that brought in greater convenience for both commerce and banking by bringing together the stakeholders who contribute to the entire value chain onto their digital platform.

Pinang and Ceria:

Bank BRI partnered with Infosys Finacle to achieve its twin objectives of leading the digitization wave and driving greater financial inclusion in Indonesia. The bank wanted to create the most comprehensive ecosystem in Indonesia, with a platform that was open, scalable, flexible, and enabling the bank to deliver a suite of products and services to its customers. The bank wanted a unified digital factory to accelerate innovation to allow customers to engage with them across multiple devices and touchpoints while offering consistent customer journeys.

The result was an online loan platform named Pinang and Ceria for customers. Pinang and Ceria work very similar to peer lending services. Ceria also has a pay later feature and has developed partnerships with e-commerce platforms in Indonesia.

Pinang and Ceria are one of the first digital lending apps in Indonesia that can process loans by self-service and have an end to end automated loan process including credit scoring, E-KYC process, and Digital Signature and document signing from the app. With credit scoring carried out in less than 2 minutes offering a convenient and speedy experience for loan disbursal and repayment, Pinang and Ceria have the fastest credit approval in the market.

Technology:

For Pinang and Ceria, the Bank used a custom-built Android native app using native technology with Finacle Omnichannel Hub (OCH) that served as the platform on which the app was built and with loans resting on the Finacle Core Banking Platform. Pinang and Ceria leveraged Biometrics for eKYC and Digital Signature for document signing. Finacle OCH had to be integrated with multiple solutions for this project. It was integrated with CAMS and Silverlake for customer and account inquiries. SMS aggregator Whitelist was connected for delivering OTP, OCR system for e-KTP. Additionally, it was integrated with Element for e-KYC, Privy for digital signature and document signing, and a credit scoring system. Finacle core was used for CIF and loan account maintenance with all integrations handled through google APIGEE.

Customer Use:

Customers could obtain a loan via Pinang and Ceria without going to a branch. They had to download the application from the application store on Android and iOS and provide their details. Bank BRI would then perform a credit check post which the loan was disbursed. The complete process of opening a loan amount and its disbursement was less than 2 minutes.

Another feature was that Ceria had the technology to provide a cash loan feature that becomes digital lending with full features in banking. The advantage of this cash loan feature allowed customers to transfer their existing credit limit at Ceria directly to BRI personal accounts. Ceria was targeted towards technology-savvy millennials who were Bank BRI customers, living in big cities, looking for financing for lifestyle needs. On the other hand, Pinang primarily targeted blue-collar employees in Indonesia who were using BRI Payroll.

Customer impact:

With Pinang and Ceria, the bank was able to penetrate rural regions without the need to have a bank branch. By reducing dependence on the verification process by branches, the solution promoted ultra-fast micro-lending. This is illustrated by the over 50,000 loan applications worth more than USD 8 Million processed by the two apps. The loan volume across the two apps has also increased significantly as Pinang has seen 62% increase while Ceria has disbursed IDR 4 billion of loans every week, increasing by 45% per week. Another benefit to the bank is the reduction in turnaround time enabling an increase in business.

IBSI View:

This case study showcases the power of digital channels like apps in improving financial inclusion especially in developing economies like Indonesia with a young technology savvy but underbanked population.

KEY FACTS

Bank: Bank Rakyat Indonesia
Bank Headquarters: Indonesia
Solution partner: Infosys Finacle
Solution: Finacle Omnichannel Hub & Finacle Core Banking Platform