Bank Jago Owned By Conglomerate Jerry Ng And Patrick Walujo Inaugurates Sharia Business Unit

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Jago Tbk (JAGO) inaugurated the Sharia Business Unit (UUS) to serve the mass market segment based on sharia principles. Jago Syariah, a bank controlled by conglomerates Jerry Ng and Patrick Walujo, will offer digital financial solutions that focus on customer life (life centric) by optimizing the latest technology.

Bank Jago's President Director Kharim Siregar explained that the idea of establishing Jago Syariah was based on the current situation where people are increasingly accustomed to using digital technology to fulfill their daily needs, including accessing bank products and services.

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the massive use of technology. Meanwhile, currently, most digital bank applications are conventional bank products.

"We provide options for those who have a preference to be served through Islamic banking products and services," Kharim said in a written statement, quoted Friday, September 23.

The potential of Islamic banks in Indonesia is still very large. This is reflected in the achievements of the Islamic banking industry in the first semester of 2021.

Data from the Financial Services Authority showed that the assets of Islamic banks and UUS rose 15.87 percent with third party funds increasing 16.55 percent to Rp491.1 trillion.

"Digitalization will improve the quality of service to customers as well as expand market share. We believe the presence of a digital sharia bank application will have a positive impact in encouraging the contribution of the sharia economy to the national economy," said Kharim.

Moreover, said Kharim, customers also want the quality of Islamic digital financial applications to be on par with conventional bank applications, especially in the application of technology and transaction features. So, customers have expectations that the sharia digital application they will use must be qualified and able to provide solutions to daily financial management problems.

"We listen to this demand because we also believe that every customer has the right to high-quality products and services," said Kharim.

Bank Jago is optimistic that the application of sharia digital finance can be a new breakthrough in accelerating financial inclusion and financial literacy in the underserved sharia segment. This is the company's commitment to support the regulator's agenda in developing Islamic financial services in Indonesia.

"The development of the Jago Syariah application has entered the final stage. We certainly try to launch this application as soon as possible, because we believe this application will be very useful for the sharia customer segment who wants to enjoy digital financial solutions with customer centric principles," concluded Kharim.

For your information, Bank Jago was originally named PT Bank Artos Indonesia (Bank Artos), which was founded in Bandung in 1992. After more than 27 years of serving the public with conventional banking products, in 2019 Bank Artos entered a new era marked by the entry of PT Metamorphosis Ekosistem Indonesia (MEI) owned by Jerry Ng, and Wealth Track Technology Limited (WTT) as new controlling shareholders.

They acquired Bank Artos shares of MEI (37.65 percent) and WTT (13.35 percent). After the Limited Public Offering (PUT) phase II, the total ownership of MEI and WTT was 41.49 percent.

The entry of institutional investors strengthens Bank Jago in providing the best financial solutions by continuing to innovate. Gojek through its financial services and digital payment business GoTo Financial, as well as GIC Pte.