To be competitive, microcredit companies must be agile in utilizing technology. This is what you try

Irianto Kusumadjaja realized by providing ready-made technology so that BPRs and cooperatives can return to serve wholeheartedly.

At present microcredit companies such as cooperatives and BPR (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat) have to go through hard times. On one side,

Bankumum is increasingly aggressive in targeting prospective customers, including using Laku Pandai agents.

While on the other hand, financial technology (fintech) companies are also increasingly active in targeting micro entrepreneurs and MSMEs who are traditional BPR customers.

This factor is one of the causes of the decline in the number of BPRs. Based on OJK data, the number of rural banks as of January 2019 was 1593 banks, down from 1669 banks in 2011.

One reason BPRs cannot compete is on the technology side. "Many BPRs see the function of technology more as a function of accounting or reporting,"

said Irianto Kusumadjaja. Moreover, investment in technology is still felt as a luxury item that cannot be reached by most BPRs.

That is what prompted Irianto to make Kreditek Financial Access, a platform aimed at helping rural banks. "I want to restore the soul and spirit of BPR to its origin with the support of technology," said Irianto.

 

Chasing Speed

Irianto is indeed the right figure to photograph the twists and turns of the micro credit industry.

Before establishing Exlayer Technology Indonesia (the parent company of Kreditek), Irianto was the COO and CIO of Bank Andara who was heavily involved in lending to farmers.

Speaking with this man, you will understand the problem of oil palm growers in Sintang (West Kalimantan) or nutmeg farmers in Tobelo (North Maluku).

One of the classic problems for farmers is getting funds easily and quickly. All this time,

BPR can answer the farmers' needs; at least compared to commercial banks. "Just one week,

farmers can get loans, "said Irianto. While at commercial banks, the process can take weeks.

But now, speed is no longer the unique advantage of BPR. Peer-to-peer lending companies can now outperform rural banks in terms of the speed of loan disbursement,

one of them thanks to utilizing technology. To be able to compete with this fintech company, BPR must also start using technology.

This is what is trying to be provided by the Kreditek Financial Access platform. Basically, this platform digitizes business processes in BPR, starting from loan applications,

verification of loan applicants, credit scoring, until billing.

The principle works more or less like this. Marketing officers in the field are equipped with the mobile apps Kreditek whose one feature is filling in loan applicant documents.

In addition to filling in the identity of prospective borrowers, these mobile apps are also used to take photos of potential applicants or collateral objects (such as rice fields or stalls) or

record location information (geo-tagging). Or record location information (geo-tagging) The data is then directly sent to the central office so that it can be directly processed.

On the backend, the Kreditek platform has various features to speed up the process.

One of them is a dashboard to monitor the journey of documents. "So it can be recorded when the data is uploaded, when the manager starts checking the document, and so on," explained Irianto.

 

Another interesting feature of Kreditek is the existence of a credit scoring system. This system will

analyze the profile of potential customers, such as estimated income and living expenses, to determine the level of loan risk.

The credit scoring feature itself uses the technology of the Dutch company, Financial Access, which became Exlayer's business partner when building Kreditek.

In addition to utilizing internal creding scoring, the results of the Kreditek analysis can also be integrated with SLIK data from OJK. That way, BPR has an adequate database

to determine lending to the applicant.

Affordable Investment

By digitizing this process, BPRs can more quickly disburse loans to applicants.

According to Irianto's calculations, Kreditek could shorten the loan process from a week to 2-3 days. Duration

this is not as fast as fintech can disburse funds in a matter of hours, but this is not separated from

the prudent approach, aka the precautionary principle that BPRs must still carry out (such as continuing to conduct field surveys).

However, Irianto believes, BPRs should still be able to be the choice of farmers and small entrepreneurs compared

fintech. One of them is because the BPR interest rate is more friendly. "Because the BPR is around 1.5 interest

up to 2% a month, "said Irianto, while comparing fintech interest which could reach 0.8% per day. That

No less important, BPRs have agents who understand well the profile of customers in the field, so they can see the potential and needs of customers more accurately.

Because it is intended for rural banks that have limited capital, Kreditek is designed using a subscription model.

The BPR only needs to pay a subscription fee of Rp.1.5 million per month and a fee of Rp.15 thousand per approved loan.

With such a model, Irianto hopes this scheme will make it easier for BPRs to adopt technology.

Kreditek Financial Access was only released two months ago, but there are already around 10 BPRs that are interested

implement this solution. With this encouraging initial speech, Irianto targets next year there will be 100 BPRs or cooperatives that use the Kreditek platform.

"That way, I can develop this platform," Irianto said, pointing to the mapping of potential farmers as one of his main focuses.

There is a separate reason why this man who lives in Jakarta and Bali has special attention to financing for farmers and small entrepreneurs.

"Because they are actually the support of microeconomics," said Irianto. "I want this Kreditek to have a positive impact on the BPR business as well as small farmers and entrepreneurs," added Irianto.

Author: Wisnu Nugroho

Computer Info Magazine December 2019 Edition