Fintech DANA Released a Gold Investment Feature

Payment technology (fintech) company DANA launched a gold investment feature, DANA eMAS. The company also competes with Tokopedia, Gojek, and Bukalapak which previously provided similar services. DANA partnered with startup Pluang to provide gold investment services. Users can buy gold at least 0.01 grams, for IDR 10 thousand.

“Apart from buying and selling, DANA users can buy gold by utilizing an installment program for three to 24 months,” said DANA CEO and Co-Founder Vincent Iswara as quoted from a press release, Friday (7/8). Vincent said the public began to reduce unnecessary spending during the corona pandemic. In addition, choose to invest long term by buying gold.

Therefore, the company launched the gold investment feature. However, this feature can only be used by premium DANA account users. To be able to increase account status in the DANA application, users only need to upload their National Identity Card (KTP) and take a selfie (selfie). After the account becomes premium, users can press the DANAeMAS feature button to transact gold.

A Collaboration between DANA and Pluang

Vincent also guarantees transaction security, because Pluang is under PT PG Berjangka which is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti). Customer gold is also stored and guaranteed by the Indonesian Derivatives Clearing House (KBI).

“That way, all transactions that occur are not only recorded in the application but also Bappebti. The physical gold stored is guaranteed by KBI,” said Vincent.

Previously, Pluang Co-Founder Claudia Kolonas noted that the volume of transactions on her platform more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic. “It seems that customers are looking for investments that are more stable and safer than the stock market,” she told Katadata.co.id, last month (8/7).

He is optimistic that gold investment will be increasingly in demand by the public, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Gold is a good investment when there is economic uncertainty. This is still the right time to increase gold investment,” said Claudia.

Other Platforms have already Provided Gold Investment Services

Apart from DANA, Pluang has been present at Gojek’s GoInvestment service since last June. Through this feature, Gojek users can buy gold at least 0.01 grams. In September last year, Bukalapak also partnered with Pluang in the Cicil Emas feature as part of developing the BukaEmas feature.

Users can pay gold in installments starting from 1 gram, with a tenor of three to 24 months. Bukalapak has provided BukaEmas services since 2017. Transactions on this platform have also increased, along with the soaring price of gold.

“This is influenced by pandemic conditions which have encouraged customers to look for safe investment instruments such as gold,” said AVP Investment & Financing Solutions Bukalapak Dhinda Arisyiya. However, she did not specifically mention the increase in gold transactions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Users can transact gold starting from IDR 100 at Bukalapak. This service is also supervised by the Financial Services Authority (OJK). Also, the investment can be withdrawn in the form of physical gold. Another e-commerce company, Tokopedia, also has a similar service, namely Tokopedia Emas.

VP of Fintech and Payment Tokopedia Vira Widiyasari said gold transactions on its platform grew 30 times annually (year on year / yoy) as of June. Meanwhile, in the second quarter alone, the increase was 3.5 times.

She considered that the increase in gold transactions on the platform was because precious metals were considered a safe investment portfolio. In addition, “it is easy to understand (the investment) and the price tends to continue to increase even during a pandemic,” said Vira.

Tokopedia has provided gold investment services since March 2018, and is supervised by the OJK. Users can invest starting from IDR 5,000.