WeLab, a leading pan-Asian fintech platform, today announced the completion of the acquisition of an Indonesian commercial bank, PT Bank Jasa Jakarta (BJJ), together with PT Astra International Tbk (Astra), one of Indonesia's largest public companies. The completion is marked by the issuance of acquisition approval by the Financial Services Authority (OJK). For this transaction, a WeLab-led consortium, Welab Sky Limited (WeLab Sky), participated in the acquisition together with Astra's subsidiary PT Sedaya Multi Investama (Astra Financial). The WeLab-led consortium has drawn wide-spread support from existing and new investors, including Allianz X, Boyu Capital, Horizons Ventures, SCBX Group and TFB (Taipei Fubon Bank) Capital.
In December 2021, WeLab entered into a Share Purchase and Subscription Agreement with the shareholders of BJJ, and completed a strategic investment for 24% of BJJ. With the acquisition completed today, WeLab and Astra each holds 49.56% of BJJ shares, becoming the majority shareholders and joint controllers of the bank. The transaction is Southeast Asia's largest digital bank M&A transaction in 2022, illustrating the substantial commitment to invest in, and contribute to digitizing Indonesia's banking industry. The shareholders aim to transform BJJ into an innovative digital bank in Indonesia.
"Expanding WeLab's digital banking presence across Asia, first in Hong Kong and now in Indonesia, has been one of our key strategic moves. This partnership with Astra reinforces WeLab's strategic focus on enhancing cross-country and business synergies with partners to increase scale and reach, in order to further strengthen the breadth and depth of the existing pan-Asian fintech platform. We're excited that our long-term partner, Astra will be collaborating with us to deliver the best tech-driven banking services through BJJ in Indonesia. We look forward to bolstering the customer trust level with the collaboration with Astra."
- Simon Loong, Founder and Group CEO of WeLab
President Director of Astra Djony Bunarto Tjondro said, Investment in BJJ is in line with Astra aspirations in financial services pillars to become leading retail financial providers in Indonesia and support the growth of financial services industry as well as the economy of Indonesia.
Propel growth and digital innovation with strong synergies between Astra and WeLab
WeLab and Astra are long time partners in Indonesia's fintech ecosystem. This is WeLab's second strategic partnership initiative with Astra since the formation of a fintech lending joint venture, PT Astra WeLab Digital Arta (AWDA), in 2018. The complementary strengths of the partners, including WeLab's know-how and technology in building and being an operator in digital banking, together with Astra's solid business ecosystem and experience as well as vast distribution network, are highly synergistic and key success factors to propel BJJ's digital transformation and into an innovative digital bank to serve the digital financial needs of Indonesians with accessible and innovative banking solutions.
Address unmet financial needs and advocate financial inclusion
The prospect of digital banking in Indonesia is currently on the rise and represents a huge opportunity to provide accessible and innovative digital banking solutions, especially to the retail and MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) segments. The utilization of financial services in Indonesia has the potential to grow, as 77% of Indonesia's 270-million-population is either underbanked or unbanked. The country also has a sizable population of 180 million tech-savvy younger consumers, representing a great demand for digital banking services.
About WeLab
WeLab, a leading pan-Asian fintech platform, operates WeLab Bank as well as multiple online financial services with leading positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia, with more than 50 million individual users and over 700 enterprise customers. WeLab uses game-changing technology to help customers access credit, save money, and enjoy their financial journey. Powered by proprietary risk management technology, patented privacy computing techniques, and advanced AI capabilities, WeLab offers mobile-based consumer financing solutions and digital banking services to retail individuals and technology solutions to enterprise customers. WeLab operates in three markets under multiple brands, including WeLend, and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, various business lines in Mainland China, Maucash and a digital bank in Indonesia. WeLab is backed by the most renowned investors including Allianz, China Construction Bank International, International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), CK Hutchison's TOM Group, and Sequoia Capital.
About Astra:
Astra is one of Indonesia's largest public companies, comprising 240 subsidiaries, joint ventures, and associate companies, supported by nearly 190,000 employees. The company's diversified business model creates synergies and opportunities across industry sectors including automotive, financial services, heavy equipment, mining construction and energy, agribusiness, infrastructure and logistics, information technology, and property. The company has a new sustainability framework which contains Astra 2030 Sustainability Aspirations. It will guide Astra in the transition journey to be a more sustainable business by 2030 and beyond. Astra wishes to contribute to the strength and resilience of the Indonesian economy while supporting an inclusive and prosperous society.
Astra has a strong record of public and social contributions through four pillars, which consist of health, education, environment, and entrepreneurships as well as nine foundations to contribute to the growth of the Indonesian economy while encouraging a more inclusive and prosperous society. Established in 2010, Astra's Semangat Astra Terpadu Untuk (SATU) Indonesia Awards programme, has recognised the contribution of 493 young Indonesians across each of these focus areas, including 81 national level recipients and 412 provincial level recipients. The SATU Indonesia Awards programme is integrated with Astra's wide range of community activities through 170 Kampung Berseri Astra and 1,060 Desa Sejahtera Astra initiatives in 34 provinces throughout Indonesia.