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Hi readers,
Since I moved back to Jakarta from Singapore, I’ve been tempted to open a Jenius account and I’ve been seeing more and more Bank Jago ads both online and offline lately. But personally, I still don’t have a digital bank account.
My needs are still largely met by my trusty BCA account, even with the rise of e-wallets. Offline transactions, fund transfers, even GoPay or Ovo top-ups – I still do all of them with BCA. Most people I know have a BCA account, and it’s been integrated quite well with the latest fintech offerings.
But there are many people in Indonesia who aren’t like me – those who don’t have bank accounts or only use only a few banking services. That’s the potential that the country’s new digital banks are gunning for, and I explore this in my latest article for Tech in Asia..
It’ll be interesting to see how digital banks develop from here. For tech giants, there’s the promise of profits, of course. Globally, only three digital banks – MyBank, WeBank, and KakaoBank – are profitable, but all of them earned over US$100 million in their latest financial year.
As for me, I don’t know if – and how – digital banks will ultimately lure me to be a customer. We shall see!
— Putra Muskita, journalist at Tech in Asia
TOP STORIES THIS WEEK
1️. Why Indonesia’s tech giants find digital banks irresistible
That said, a massive state-backed player stands in their way.
2️. Foodpanda Thailand reportedly loses over 2 million users after social media debacle
Foodpanda told Tech in Asia that the figures were inflated, but it didn’t provide details about the exact number of users accounts and merchants it lost.
3. Why Shopee and Lazada dominate local players – but not Tokopedia
Tokopedia has proven to be the exception to the norm. We find out why that’s the case.
4. Explaining Axie Infinity and its mercurial rise
We explain how this blockchain game works and the forces that led to its popularity.
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