JAKARTA. Banking is preparing to face the invasion of startups or financial technology (fintech). Therefore, in 2017, several major banks focus on allocating large capital expenditures to enough strengthen digital banking system, including mobile application.
Although have not yet submitted the draft of the capital expenditure to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), some banks have mentioned the projection of capital expenditures in the next year. The values of capital expenditure in the field of information technology (IT) are varied.
For an example, management of PT Bank Mandiri Tbk allocated a worth of US$ 150 million or equivalent to Rp 1.97 trillion for capital expenditures in the IT sector. Based on KONTAN’s record, the amount of capital expenditures on IT have increased from US$ 100 million in this year.
Director of Digital Banking and Technology Bank Mandiri Rico Usthavia Frans said that most of the IT capital expenditure in 2017 will be allocated to strengthen the mobile banking infrastructure. Furthermore, Rico said that Mandiri will strengthen the business processes in the areas of existing digital banking.
Bank Mandiri will also enhance efficiency by increasing the cash deposit machine (CDM) customer relationship management (CRM). Rico continued that the Bank will focus to shape strategies in strengthening IT in 2017.
Another state owned bank PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk allocated a worth of IDR1 trillion of capital expenditure for 2017. This value is slightly down from this year's Rp 1.5 trillion.
Director of Planning and Operations BNI Bob Tyasika Ananta said that BNI's IT capital expenditure in 2017 will reach 50% of the BNI’s total capital expenditures. The capital expenditure will mainly be allocated to develop features and applications, as well as to enhance the hardware capacity, Bob said.
Bob said that in the next year, BNI will focus on the development of e-banking to welcome the digital banking era. BNI expects that the bank’s capital expenditures in the IT sector will be quite effective by implementing this strategy.
Meanwhile, PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) claimed to allocate Rp 1 trillion- Rp 2 trillion capital expenditures for IT sector in 2017. This year, BCA has allocated IDR2 trillion capital expenditures for developing the IT.
President Director of BCA Jahja Setiaatmadja said that the IT’s capital expenditure in 2017 will be focused to develop new programs, which can be aligned and flexible with fintech. “We will develop electronic money, such as Sakuku,” said John.
Meanwhile, President Director of Bank Permata Roy Arman Arfandy said that the bank will focus on allocating the IT’s capital expenditure to develop mobile and e-banking applications in 2017. For mobile applications, in the future Permata Bank will focus on developing features, which may facilitate customer transactions.
(Muhammad Farid/Translator)
