Bank BRI: Revolutionizing Financial Inclusion in Asia with Digital Banking

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Bank BRI), one of the largest banks in Indonesia, was faced with the challenge of increasing financial inclusion among unbanked Indonesians. The bank had an ambitious target of having 84 percent of Indonesians participating in the banking system by 2022. However, the bank's legacy technologies were proving to be a hindrance in achieving this goal. Each of the bank's products had their own public APIs, which were difficult to manage, secure, and monetize. Additionally, the process of onboarding new partners using host-to-host and VPN technology was time-consuming, taking up to six months. The bank also faced the challenge of reaching a largely rural population, with an estimated $8.3 billion in currency being held outside the banking system.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Bank BRI) is a government-owned bank and one of the largest banks in Indonesia. The bank is committed to increasing financial inclusion among unbanked Indonesians and has an aggressive target of having 84 percent of Indonesians participating in the banking system by 2022. Bank BRI specializes in using modern digital banking to facilitate microfinance lending across its network of over 10,000 branches and thousands of branchless agents. The bank is also the biggest microfinance lender in the ASEAN region and has the largest network of any bank in ASEAN.