Alami Buys BPR, Aim for the Great Potential of Sharia Digital Banks

Sharia financial technology (fintech lending) startup, Alami bought a People’s Credit Bank (BPR) in March. The company plans to develop a technology-based bank through this acquisition.

CEO Alami Dima Djani said that the acquisition process and the additional capital were carried out in stages. “Currently, the value reaches more than IDR 50 billion,” he said, Monday (24/5).

He said the potential for Islamic finance in Indonesia is very large. He also estimated that there will be more players in the country’s Islamic digital banking industry this year.

Shopee’s parent company, Sea Group, for example, is reportedly in the process of acquiring Bank Net Indonesia Syariah (BANK), which is now known as Bank Aladin.

“(There will be more and more players) in the Islamic finance industry. Different banks, different segments,” said Dima. However, “its market share in Indonesia is still very large.”

Previously Collaborated with BPRS

The financial technology (fintech) platform of PT Alami Fintek Sharia (ALAMI) seeks to increase its influence on the market share of Islamic finance users in metropolitan areas, by expanding its service base.

ALAMI CEO Dima Djani explained this considering the phenomenon of the growing number of people who are interested in contributing to Islamic finance, which can be seen from the growth of lenders (lenders/funders) on the ALAMI platform during the 2021 period.

“Our retail funders have increased significantly, especially after we launched the mobile application. The contribution can be up to IDR 30 billion per month. Compared to institutional funders, previously retail was only 10-15 percent, now it’s 30 percent,” he said in a special interview session, Tuesday (25/5/2021).

Not wanting to miss the momentum, ALAMI is also trying to accelerate the process of launching the sharia banking business which it just acquired in the first quarter of 2021.

For your information, this sharia-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending fintech platform has completed the licensing process for the only Sharia People’s Financing Bank (BPRS) in the DKI Jakarta area, which is planned to be called Bank Hijra.

Dima explained that this step is one of ALAMI ways to maintain public interest in Islamic financial institutions which are currently growing.

Both in terms of lenders and business actors as borrowers of funds (borrowers). In the future, the Bank resulting from the acquisition can complement services that are not owned by ALAMI as a P2P lending fintech.

For example, accommodating savings from lenders and borrowers, as well as becoming an institutional lender for the ALAMI platform itself, so that interest and service costs can be further reduced.

Hoping Public Interest Brings Growth to the Company

The limitations of P2P are not allowed to collect customer funds, lender funds [settle] for a maximum of two days, after which there must be banks to accommodate them.

“Hence, we all want to participate in developing the BPRS ecosystem through the market we already have, and incidentally OJK is also echoing the digitization of BPRS. So our steps are also an effort so that the BPRS will not be crushed by the times,” he explained.

The man who has been working in the financial services industry since 2009 hopes that the momentum of public interest in the sharia ecosystem in this period will bring growth to ALAMI and Bank Hijra.

ALAMI targets lending in 2021 to be able to penetrate IDR 1 trillion. Meanwhile, since its establishment in 2018 to date, ALAMI’s accumulated loan disbursement has reached Rp. 592 billion to 129 productive MSME borrowers, with an outstanding remaining of IDR 152 billion.

The company’s growth in the first quarter of 2021 actually almost rivaled (the total) a year ago. Last year, it was around IDR 240 billion. In January – February around IDR 50 billion per month. March IDR 80 billion. April IDR 90 billion. So the first four months have passed 2020 figures.