PT Bank Mayora, a small-sized domestic lender recently acquired by the state-owned PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BNI), is set to become fully digital in the first quarter of 2023, a top executive said on Friday.
BNI President Director Royke Tumilaar said Bank Mayora remains operational as usual while its parent company is preparing to change its lending, core banking and technology. Royke did not explain further on the matter.
“We are building a digital platform. Sea Ltd’s involvement has begun as a technology partner. There are several steps, hopefully [Bank Mayora] will operate digitally in the first quarter of next year,” Tumilaar said in a press conference.
BNI completed Bank Mayora’s acquisition in May by subscribing to new shares issued by the latter and purchasing existing shares owned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), according to a filing to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) published on May 19.
Following the transaction, BNI controls a 63.92% stake in Bank Mayora while PT Mayora Inti Utama holds the balance.
DealStreetAsia reported in April that Sea Ltd was looking to acquire a minority stake in Bank Mayora, which could dilute BNI’s stake to around 50%. Sea, however, has been involved as a technology partner of BNI in the Mayora acquisition.
DealStreetAsia’s Indonesia Digital Banking Review 2022 noted that the banking sector in the country had seen a string of acquisitions on the back of regulatory updates in recent years.
Bank Mayora will compete against other digital lenders, including the ones backed by conglomerates and those by the digital ecosystem, such as Bank Fama International, Allo Bank Indonesia, Bank Jago, Bank Neo Commerce, Bank Seabank Indonesia, among others.
Tumilaar noted that the lender will focus on launching the new Bank Mayora next year instead of doing other corporate actions.
At the same press conference, BNI announced an 8.8 trillion rupiah ($592 million) profit for the January-June period, a 75.1% increase from the same period a year earlier.
“The continuing trend of economic recovery and our transformation have started to show some results. We hope to reach the highest profit in BNI’s history this year,” BNI Chief Financial Officer Novita Widya Anggraini said at the press conference.
The announcement came after the market closed for the week. BNI shares rose 0.32% on the day and closed at 7,850 apiece on Friday.