Technologies such as biometrics to artificial intelligence (AI) also feature in digibank.

The Iaunch follows the rollout of digibank in India in April last year, which has enabled DBS to penetrate India’s retail banking market with about 1.5 million new customers acquired to date.

Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology Rudiantara congratulated DBS on its innovations at the digibank launch. He also said that the government foresees that Indonesia’s digital economy will reach USD 130 billion, or about 12% of Indonesia's GDP, in 2020. With Indonesia's economy shifting from a commodity-led to service-based one, this will encourage the rise of the digital economy in the country.

According to the Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia (APJII) survey, Internet users in Indonesia make up 132.7 million or 51.8% of the total population. The We Are Social survey has found that around 91% of Indonesian citizens have a mobile phone and 47% of them own smartphones. Along with the growing Internet penetration, Indonesia Financial Authority Services (OJK) said that the number of customers using e-banking has increased from 13.6 million customers in 2012 to 54 million customers in 2016. The frequency of Internet banking transactions has also increased, from 150.8 million transactions in 2012 to 406.6 million transactions in 2016.

Key features of digibank include:

·         Biometric technology. Indonesia citizens who live in the Greater Jakarta area (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) can open a digibank account anywhere at any time. All they have to do is arrange to meet a digibank agent, who will assist them to do so using a biometric device on the spot with no paperwork involved. This function leverages E-KTP, Indonesia’s biometrics-enabled ID programme.

·         Customer service provided by a 24x7 AI-driven virtual assistant. Customers will be able to converse with digibank’s AI-powered virtual assistant to get their queries answered. They can type or say “What is my account balance?” or “Please show me my five latest transactions”, and the requests will be carried out.

·         An intelligent financial planning and monitoring feature that helps with financial management. With the digibank Spending Tracker feature, customers can easily plan their expenses while simultaneously monitoring their banking transactions made using their digibank debit card. In-built into digibank is a budget optimizer that helps customers do their budgeting, track expenses and analyze purchasing trends.

·         Dynamic inbuilt security. Most banks’ customers are used to receiving One-Time Passwords (OTPs) via SMS, and then typing codes into pages to authorize their mobile banking transactions. Digibank has an embedded soft token security, avoiding the need to wait for SMSs to arrive and providing even stronger security for transaction authorization. Soft token is a dynamic inbuilt security which is purportedly safer than OTP.

Other offerings of digibank include:

·         3% interest from the first rupiah deposited.  Customers can open an account with no minimum balance and enjoy 3% interest.

·         Easy transfer of funds to any bank and ATM cash withdrawal at no cost. Customers can transfer funds up to 200 million rupiah per transaction and up to 500 million rupiah per day, as well as make cash withdrawals from any ATM (ALTO and ATM Bersama) without any administration fees.

·         Account-holders earn up to 6.25% on deposits. Starting with only five million rupiah of deposits, they can earn up to 6.25% interest.

Digibank customers also benefit from the regional connectivity that DBS offers. This includes the ability to make cash withdrawals in Singapore at any DBS and POSB ATM, without any fees. The ATM menu for these clients is in Bahasa. Digibank customers also get to enjoy promotion programmes in Singapore with their digibank debit card.

“Over the past few years, Indonesia has seen a rapid growth in the number of Internet and smartphone users. Along with this, we’ve witnessed a change in customer behavior and people increasingly want a simple, fast and effortless way to bank. As a bank that is committed to shaping the future of banking, we’re excited to introduce digibank in Indonesia, giving customers the ability to bank anytime, anywhere,” said DBS Indonesia President Director Paulus Sutisna.

“A few years ago, we would not have imagined that it would be possible to launch an entire bank in a mobile phone. With digibank, we’ve built a bank that pulls together the power of biometrics, natural language, artificial intelligence and in-built security in one offering. We believe this mobile-led offering represents the future of banking, and are excited to introduce this in Indonesia, a core market for us in Asia,” said  DBS CEO Piyush Gupta.