Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Bank BRI) announced that its subsidiary PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia Agroniaga (BRI Agro) has appointed Kaspar Situmorang as its new CEO.
Situmorang’s digital banking acumen will be key at BRI Agro, where the new CEO has been tasked to build the ‘BUKU II’ bank into a fully digital bank.
BRI Agro launched the Pinang app in February 2019 offering digital loans with two-minute loan approvals. At the end of 2020, Pinang loan disbursements totaled IDR70.6 billion (US$4.87 million) across 18,069 borrowers.
Pinang is already licensed as a digital bank by the Indonesian Financial Services Authority so BRI Agro will not have to start from scratch and can hit the ground running.
Instead of going through a lengthy licensing process or acquiring a separate entity, BRI Agro’s transition will immediately be focused on converting current customers and acquiring new ones for a fully digital banking experience.
Previously the division head of Digital Bank Development and Operations at Bank BRI, Situmorang also headed the bank’s Digital Centers of Excellence division from 2017 to late 2020.
During that period, he oversaw key digital programs including the group’s open banking initiative BRIAPI, in-house artificial intelligence platform BRIBrain, and digital lending mobile app Ceria.
Kaspar Situmorang
Kaspar Situmorang, CEO, BRI Agro said,
“BRI Agro is now expanding its services beyond traditional agribusiness. The plan is to now cater to informal and underbanked workers across the entire gig economy. To give an image, this could include but certainly wouldn’t be limited to e-commerce solo merchants, warung owners, freelance service providers, drivers and in-home staff, repair people, and much more.”
As the most sophisticated digital banking player in the country, with the full weight and reach of the BRI Group behind us, our mandate is to become Indonesia’s official house of fintech and home of the local gig economy. This requires a fully digital approach that offers low-interest products and lightning-fast processes,”
Featured image: Kaspar Situmorang, CEO, BRI Agro
