Jenius, a Digital Bank Making Great Strides- Reasons for Growth and its Unthinkable Future〔Japanese version〕https://8knot.nttdata.com/challengers/7200277

The concept of "digital banking," or "banking without branches," is expanding around the globe.
One such digital bank that is currently attracting attention is "Jenius”, which has succeeded inacquiring more than 5,2 million customers in Indonesia, a market that continues to grow.
Why is “Jenius”, which was born in Indonesia, continuing to make great strides and what are its
prospects?
We interviewed Mr. Asatsu and Mr. Ramano of Bank BTPN, the Indonesian subsidiary of SMBC
Group, which leads Jenius' business, and Mr. Sukegawa of NTT Data Indonesia, who is driving
Jenius' growth by starting with co-creation in HR tech.
The interviewer is Mr. Shimada, who promotes NTT Data's global business in China and APAC
region.

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Contents
1.

Why Digital Banking? ............................................................................................................... 2

2.

Jenius as an Enabler for “Beyond Bank, Beyond Country” ....................................................... 53.

Overcoming Clients’ Challenge with Open Co-Creation Ecosystem........................................ 8

1. Why Digital Banking?

──Jenius is a digital bank from Bank BTPN, an Indonesian subsidiary of SMBC Group.
Mr. Asatsu originally pursued a career in corporate sales at SMBC, and now is
positioned to the corporate division of Bank BTPN. Could you tell me about BankBTPN and what kind of bank it is?

Mr.Asatsu

Bank BTPN was established in 1958 as a bank handling pensions for retired military
personnel. During its journey, Bank BTPN has continuously grown and developed
new business, such as micro banking business, funding business, Daya as enabling
platform, small & medium enterprise, and Jenius to serve the digital savvy segment.
In 2019, it underwent a management integration with SMBC Indonesia and is now amember of the SMBC Group.
Bank BTPN aims to be a full-line bank. In the retail sector, we are expanding ourservices in all directions, including wealth management and reaching out to the mass
market through digital banking. In the corporate sector, we are in the process of
expanding our business to include a wide range of services for large corporations, small
and medium-sized businesses, and sole proprietorships.

──

It is somewhat remarkable that a bank that originally started out as a pension handlingbank is growing so rapidly in the digital banking market.
On the other hand, it seems to be that there are many banks in Indonesia that havetheir own brand of digital banking compared to those in Japan. Ramano-san, according
to the background, you are exactly in charge of acquiring Jenius customers as apromoter of digital banking business in Bank BTPN. Is having a digital banking
business an essential element for competing in the Indonesian banking industry?

Mr. Loranto Yes, it certainly is. But just having it is not the only important point.
Back in 2015, Bank BTPN’ management had a vision that digital will grow bigger andfurther and it became opportunity for us to serve the anticipated new target market.
Years later, we launched Jenius in 2016 as the first digital banking in Indonesia. Then2

our competitors followed suit, and between 2021 and 2022, digital banking madesignificant progress in the Indonesian banking industry.
Today, increased competition has accelerated to reach the audience and made themarketing and services become more diversified. Starting with promotion throughdiscount, cash-back, and loyalty point programs in partnership with various companies,
such as restaurants, have spread and changed the way banks operate in Indonesia. But
in Jenius, we use different approach and new way of working. We engage the audiencethrough our co.creation activities and make this effort more sustainable for the run of
the business.
As such, how can we not only have digital banking, but also provide a variety ofsolutions for lifestyle and finance through digital. That is another important aspect,which we are also focusing on.

──

For that aspiration, what kind of approaches are there?

Mr. Loranto For example, we have created an attractive unsecured loan called "Flexi Cash". This
service allows customers to apply for and borrow loans directly from the app without
having to visit the bank. This loan can be personalized based on user needs. They can
set and disburse the credit partially under the credit limit that being offered.

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We have also rolled out a special interest rate program for U.S. dollar deposits. This
service is a great advantage for Indonesia as there is a high demand for currencies
other than its own, especially for traveling. In fact, Jenius' foreign currency deposits
have been growing exponentially.
Mr. Asatsu

As Mr. Ramano mentioned, Bank BTPN is now just about to take on the challenge ofdifferentiation.
But actually, conceiving this kind of digital banking business has been a very
challenging subject for me, as I was originally a typical corporate sector banker.
Concerning our challenge, from my perspective, I believe that the essential aspect isto think carefully about the value we provide not only to the corporate sector, but also
to the individuals (employees) who work for our clients' companies. We need to fully
leverage our group's customer base, both corporate and individual.
SMBC has many clients in Japan, and I would like to take advantage of this client baseand insights to expand Bank BTPN's services to the entire group.

──

I see that Bank BTPN's attitude of being close to its customers is what supports its
challenge.

Mr. Loranto Jenius has 5 values that embody in our team, such as; being agile in working, being
bold, being an owner of any activities, continuous learning, and being focused on
customer at all times which all "Jeniusians" (*) believe in and practice.
We explore ideas, realize them, and provide solutions to our users. This is true whether
the customer is a corporation or an individual. When we remove all constraints, we
can think extremely hard about what the customer truly needs.
It is this belief that allows us to build strong collaborations not only with banks, butalso with external service providers.
* At Jenius, team members involved in the digital banking business are called"Jeniusians”.
Mr.Asatsu

You are absolutely correct. I myself have spent my entire career in corporate sales inJapan, Thailand, and Indonesia, but until now I have not had many opportunities toconsider business outside the corporate sector.
However, now we approach our business with all of our customers in mind, both4

corporate and individual. Sometimes the solution to a client's problem is financing for
a company, and sometimes we offer a workable solution for their employees. It's allvery exciting for me.

2. Jenius as an Enabler for “Beyond Bank, Beyond Country”

──What kind of service is Jenius, the key to Bank BTPN's growth?

Mr. Loranto As the end of 2023, Jenius has a customer base of over 5,2 million in Indonesia, andsince Jenius was built from the ground up to be a digital bank, it offers a variety ofdigital services. During this 7 years journey, we already developed 43 innovations thatmade us a complete digital bank ranging from domestic & international transactions,saving, managing cash flow, loan, and investing.
For example, opening an account is fully digital. No need to visit the bank or wait inline at the counter, you can open an account directly from the app. You can even open
a bank account while sipping coffee at your desk.
Functions include general bank account functions such as balance inquiries and5money transfers, as well as QR code payment for payments. We have also added asset
management and investment functions, and last year we released a credit card andlending service. All of these are integrated into a single app called Jenius.
──What makes Jenius so well accepted in Indonesia?

Mr. Loranto I believe the main reason is that Jenius is simple and safe to use, also enable its users
to manage their finance smarter. The user interface is very user-friendly. It is easy tofind the function you want to use, and it will not take you long to get used to how to
operate it.
In addition, to make it more user-friendly, we are still expanding the number ofmerchants with which we can do payment transactions and contributing our presence
in digital ecosystem so that our users will continue to actively use Jenius.
In particular, customers who receive their pay checks through Jenius are also offered
the benefit of free remittance fees and withdrawal services. The advantage of free
cash withdrawals from any bank ATM is a significant benefit to our customers.
──What do you plan to further enhance the use of this service in the future?

Mr. Loranto Besides managing funds, we would like to increase the use of the account. Currently,
the use of QR code payments is increasing significantly in Indonesia. Until now, thepractice of transacting with cash has been strong, but in the future, we will see more
and more shift to QR transactions.
That is why we are focusing on the promotion of QR code payment. One suchpromotion is the offer of discounts or cash back on purchases made with QR code
payment. Through these efforts, we expect our customers to become accustomed tousing Jenius as their main transaction account.

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Mr.Asatsu

Bank BTPN has established a cross-functional cooperation team to accelerate
cooperation between the former SMBC Indonesia and Bank BTPN prior to the merger.
We are currently collaborating to focus on acquiring payroll accounts for corporateclients in order to obtain more payroll accounts for individual clients who areemployees of the bank.
Employees of our clients will receive at least one paycheck per month, which will either
be used for expenses or deposited into Jenius to help activate their accounts. This is
one of the joint efforts between Jenius and Bank BTPN's corporate department.
From the corporate department's standpoint, we want all employees of our clientorganizations to use Jenius.
For example, it would be great if all employees' salaries could be paid via Jenius. Thisis my dream, and I would say it is Bank BTPN's dream.

──

SMBC, which is collaborating with Bank BTPN, has a "Beyond Bank and Beyond
Countries" concept in its global business; is there anything that Jenius is also working
on in its business?

Mr. Loranto One example is our expansion through banking as a service (BaaS), a mechanism thatprovides banking functions as a solution, allowing customers to use our financial
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services through external partners' platforms.
Simply put, it is a mechanism that allows customers to open a Jenius account from apartner's website, without having to access the Jenius application. This isaccomplished by using API technology to transfer clients' names and otherinformation between systems.
Mr. Asatsu

For me, "Beyond Bank" also means "Beyond Corporate Banking" at the same time.
Currently, our corporate division is working with the Jenius team to provide BaaS to
our corporate clients. This is an example of "Beyond Bank" in action, working withour customers as a BaaS provider. In other words, we are already "beyond the bank”.
One of the key points of "Beyond Countries" is the "multi-franchise strategy" that
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is adopting.
Jenius, which is currently operating in Indonesia, may possibly become a "Beyond
Country" business in the future, spreading across borders to India, the Philippines,
Vietnam, and other countries.

3. Overcoming Clients’ Challenge with Open Co-Creation Ecosystem──Jenius will become a starting point for overcoming various clients’ challenges. For thisvision, do you have any future plans for Jenius?

Mr. Loranto We aim to provide the right solutions for both retail and corporate customers.
For example, we are actively engaged in building third-party platforms such as BaaS,
but we believe the crucial point is to build an ecosystem through co-creation process.
By collaborating with a partner company to create innovative services, Jenius can beused more conveniently by our customers in the ecosystem.
──

Jenius is collaborating with NTT Data Indonesia (henceforth NDID) in the HR
domain (human resource information management). Is this kind of partnership with
non-financial institutions also part of your co-creation initiatives?

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The collaboration between Jenius and NDID in the HR domain
This initiative aims to realize holistic digitization in the workplace field of corporate clients bycombining the customer bases of BTPN and Jenius with NDID's HR-Zero, a SaaS solution in
the human resource area.
BTPN and NDID have concluded a partnership agreement for 2023, and in the future, they are
considering developing business that leverages the strengths of SaaS providers, such as utilizing
Jenius' BaaS (Open API) and planning that takes advantage of data held on each other's
platforms.

Collaboration Overview Illustration
Seamless digitalization from HR domain to financial transaction
Mr. Asatsu

Yes, that's exactly how we see it. Our goal in the Corporate Division is to provide"solutions" to our clients. We believe that by delivering not only financial products but
also excellent services and technologies such as "HR-Zero" provided by NDID, we can
improve and strengthen the lives of our corporate clients, their businesses andemployees.

──Solving our customers' problems by crossing the boundaries between corporate andindividual business, that is when this co-creation demonstrates its synergy.

Mr. Asatsu

When talking with our corporate clients, we were told that there were many aspects of
HR and payroll-related systems and operations that needed to be improved. I thoughtthat HR-Zero, which Mr. Sukegawa of NDID introduced to me, might be a solution.
Actually, Mr. Sukegawa introduced "HR-Zero" to me shortly after I explained the Bank
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BTPN initiative to him.
When I explain Bank BTPN, I not only give an overview of the company, but also talkabout the business and my mission. I was impressed by his swiftness.
Mr. Sukegawa Earlier Mr. Asatsu described himself as a "typical corporate division banker," but the
impression I had when I first met him was quite different from that.
Mr. Asatsu was trying to break down the barriers between departments that had beencreated after the merger of the former Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ofIndonesia and the former Bank BTPN. I sensed his enthusiasm to take on new
challenges at Bank BTPN.
That was very impressive. At the same time, I thought that HR-Zero must be a solutionthat could contribute to Mr. Asatsu's mission to "unite all the teams of Bank BTPN"
beyond the business relationship as a sales partner.

──

What do you hope to achieve through this partnership?

Mr. Loranto Our goal is to be able to find all kinds of customer pain points that need to be resolved,
including business operations.
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HR-Zero will be the enabler to achieve this. We will reach out from various touchpoints to our clients who are employing it and provide solutions. This is one of ourgoals.
Mr. Asatsu

Currently, many corporate companies in Indonesia are attempting to go digital. I
believe that Jenius and HR-Zero will be the answer for companies to achieve theirdigitalization goals.
Both Jenius and HR-Zero are solutions for our clients, so there is no need to separate
them, and we would like to tackle our clients' issues together.

Mr. Sukegawa While HR-Zero has strengths in user UX, NDID has no knowledge of financial
business practice in the job domain, and we are fortunate to have found a trusted
expert through our partnership with Bank BTPN and Jenius.
This is because, as Mr. Asatsu mentioned, our goal is to digitize the employee
experience for our clients. Through this collaboration, we believe we can contributeto the realization of such a future.
──

Mr. Sukegawa, how do you see the synergy between NDID and Bank BTPN/Jenius?

Mr. Sukegawa While there are still many inward-looking large corporations, our encounter with
Jenius has been a tremendously wonderful experience. The openness of Jenius's
ecosystem is crucial in expanding the possibilities of collaboration.
As members of Mr. Asatsu and Mr. Ramano's team, we will contribute our crossdisciplinary insights from HR. If Jenius can facilitate smoother access to financial
services for people, it should enrich the UX of the HR-Zero platform by incorporating
financial operations such as salary payments.
We aim to cultivate more appealing services for our customers and contribute to thedevelopment of Bank BTPN and Jenius's businesses.

11＜Interviewee＞
Hideaki Asatsu
PT Bank BTPN Tbk
Head Of Corporate Banking Department Ⅴ
After graduating from university, joined Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in 2003. Engaged
in Corporate Business Office in Osaka area. In 2012, transferred to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corporation, Bangkok branch, where he was in charge of Corporate Banking for Japanese clients in
Thailand. After 7 years of overseas business experience, returned to Japan and worked in the
Corporate Banking Division at the head office. From 2022 until now, he has been appointed to
BTPN as one of Division Head of Corporate Banking for Japanese clients in Indonesia.

Ramano Loranto
PT Bank BTPN Tbk
Digital Banking Acquisition & GTM Lead
After graduating from university, Ramano joined a media group in 2007 as a Marketing
Communication. And then in 2009 moved to Danone Waters Indonesia started as a Trade
Marketing Executive and last positioned as Channel Activation Manager in 2014.
In June 2014 continued the career to British American Tobacco as Merchandising Development
Manager, where then afterwards in June 2016 Joined Bank BTPN Jenius as Retail Activation & Sales
Deployment Lead. After 7 years in Bank BTPN Jenius now positioning a Business Stream Lead for12Acquisition & Registration handling Jenius Acquisition Business & Product Delivery Goal.

Tomohiro Sukegawa
PT. NTT DATA Indonesia
Financial Solutions and Services Department
Technical Advisor
After graduating from University, joined NTT DATA in 2012. Serving as system engineer andproject manager and shifted career to developing new business. After 5 years of domestic and global
experience, altered the business field to the overseas market. Currently positioned as an expatriate
in PT.NTT DATA Indonesia, engaging in both sales and delivery domains.

＜Interviewer＞
Takanori Shimada
NTT DATA Japan
Technology Consulting & Services Global Business Promotion Unit Senior Manager
After joining the company, he was involved in system development, UI/UX commercialization, and
UX industry standardization, and then engaged in business planning in the public sector. Since 2013,
experienced business development and sales in Indonesia, and subsequently led the development
and implementation of business strategy in the APAC region. The current mission is leading thecollaboration between our domestic and overseas operating companies across the globe, andpromoting the creation and expansion of global business for Japanese clients.

＜Reference＞
Jeniushttps://www.jenius.com/
HRZERO
Cloud Human Resource Management System (HRMS)
https://www.nttdata.com/id/en/services/cloud-based-solutions/hrzero*The content of this article does not represent the opinions of the company or organization to which
the author and collaborators belong.
*The affiliations and titles in the article are current at the time of the interview.

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