Bank Jakarta CEO Reveals Cyber Security Optimization as a Focus of Development Strategy

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - Optimizing cyber security will be one of the main focuses in the strategy for developing banking digitization.

This step is considered important to ensure that the operational system, identification, and digital infrastructure remain relevant and able to face the increasing threat of cyber attacks.

Bank Jakarta President Director Agus Haryoto Widodo said that the development was not only aimed at encouraging growth in the region, but also strengthening various supporting aspects, including data transportation systems, identification, and protection against cyber security risks.

"In the future, strengthening cyber security and various aspects of digital security will be part of the next steps we will take," he said in Jakarta, Tuesday, June 30.

According to Agus, the transformation carried out by the company is not only focused on business development alone.

The company is also building new areas and functions that specifically handle digital security aspects as part of a strategy to face the challenges of an increasingly digitized banking industry.

He explained that this was a response to various problems that emerged in the development of information technology.

With more specialized functions, it is expected that companies will be able to increase risk mitigation while strengthening the governance of system security.

"So it's not just business development, but also ensuring that we have areas that are able to anticipate various problems, especially those related to cyber security," said Agus.

Optimizing cyber security is one of the important agendas of the banking industry as financial services are increasingly digitized.

In addition to maintaining operational smoothness, investment in security systems is also needed to protect customer data and maintain public confidence in digital banking services.

Previously, the national financial industry was considered to still have strong fundamentals amid various global economic challenges.

However, changes in the business landscape and market behavior make industry players have to transform in order to remain relevant and able to grow sustainably.

Agus said that fundamentally the condition of the national banking sector is still in good condition.

This is reflected in the positive credit growth, strong capital, maintained liquidity, and relatively low non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.

"The problem is actually not in the fundamentals, but the playing field is changing," said Agus.

"In recent years, the banking industry has faced various dynamics that are difficult to predict, ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, global geopolitical conflicts to changes in international trade policies," he continued.

This condition makes the bank no longer able to carry out business strategies as usual.

Agus added, there was pressure on the cost of funds or cost of funds for banks.

According to him, the deposit interest in the interbank fund auction had touched 11.5 percent, which was a signal of the increasing cost of fund collection for the banking industry.

Facing these changes, Bank Jakarta is carrying out transformations in various aspects of its business.

The transformation is carried out starting from strengthening the business model, digitization of services, risk management to the company's work culture.