PETALING JAYA: Pertama Digital Bhd today announced SME-focused neobank Crowdo Holdings Pte Ltd as its first consortium partner in its application for a digital bank licence from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
Pertama Digital director of strategy Saify Akhtar sees the digital banking initiative as its means to contribute to the country’s post-pandemic recovery via financial inclusion and ethical financial services to the most vulnerable in society.
“Crowdo brings years of priceless insights and validated turnkey solutions from delivering productive financing to MSMEs that are overwhelmingly operated by Indonesians with no credit history,” he said in a statement, adding that the partnership would allow it to serve thousands of businesses from day one.
“This is a key part of our strategy to boost economic participation amongst our financially underserved as quickly as possible, while aligning completely with the framework set by BNM.”
Powered by an artificial intelligence (AI)-credit scoring engine, the neobank was launched in 2017 and had received a full licence by Indonesia’s financial services authority Otoritas Jasa Keuangan to provide digital lending services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
It currently serves SMEs from over 30 different industries and achieved a 60% lower non-performing loan ratio versus the banking sector.
Currently, the two parties are in the process of signing the consortium documentation.
