Indonesia’s banking regulator confirms that Shopee has acquired Bank BKE

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) announced on Thursday that Sea Group’s ecommerce arm Shopee has acquired Indonesia’s PT Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi (Bank BKE). The acquisition was made with the goal to turn it into a digital bank.

Anung Herlianto, an OJK official, however said that Shopee has yet to send an official application to them regarding the transformation of Bank BKE into a digital bank. The official added that the banking regulator is preparing the infrastructure for it.

Chris Feng, CEO of Shopee and SeaMoney / Photo credit: Sea

Herlianto further added that the banking regulator was preparing new digital bank regulations, which would be released by mid-2021. This would mean that Bank BKE would be expected to prepare 3 trillion rupiah (US$214 million) in capital.

In January, it was report by Bloomberg, citing sources, that Singapore’s Sea Group has acquired Indonesia’s PT Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi (Bank BKE).

Sea Group took over the Jakarta-based bank by acquiring majority stakes in PT Koin Investama Nusantara and PT Danadipa Artha Indonesia through its unit Turbo Cash Hong Kong.

The acquisition comes as Southeast Asia’s biggest tech companies are looking to grab a share of the digital banking sector. Super app Gojek has taken over nearly a quarter of Indonesia’s Bank Jagoas as part of a strategic partnership to offer financial services to merchants and drivers in the country.

Earlier in December 2020, Sea Group was among the companies that won a license to operate a digital bank in Singapore, along with ride-hailing giant Grab and telco major Singtel.

See also: Shopee hits profit milestone; Sea in the black for 2 straight quarters

Sea Group replaced DBS as the largest Singaporean company by market capitalization in July 2020. The company has also been profitable for two straight quarters in 2020 on an adjusted EBITDA basis.

The group’s digital payments and financial services arm is expected to become a revenue-generating unit that makes money from transaction fees and financial services.