Financial technology (fintech) start-up Kredivo, which offers online credit card services, has experienced tremendous growth since its launch 1.5 years ago, seeing its user base, transaction value and revenue surge by 30 to 40 percent monthly, Aksay Garg, the CEO and cofounder of FinAccel, the parent company of Kredivo, said recently.

He, however, declined to provide exact figures, merely saying the start-up had processed “millions of dollars” in credit transactions each month from “ a few hundreds of thousands” of users.

In a relatively short period, Kredivo, which targets technology savvy millennials, has expanded its services to 130 online merchants in Indonesia, including major e-commerce platforms such as Bukalapak, Lazada and Blibli. It serves customers in Greater Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, Palembang and Denpasar — and seeks to expand into Yogyakarta before the end of the year.

At present, the firm obtains financing from multifinance company PT BFI Finance Indonesia, its sole fund provider.

In four to five years, Kredivo hopes to cover transactions valuing up to US$1 billion annually, Garg said. He is optimistic about the future of the fintech sector, which he described as a “new growth sector.”

“This is clearly one of sectors that will see a lot of growth over the next few years because there are a lot of opportunities,” he said.

Research by Google and consulting firm AT Kearney concurs with Garg’s view, as 67 percent of investors, both foreign and local, said they were interested in investing in fintech start-ups in Indonesia. Inflows of investment to the start-ups totaled more than $30 million last year, it said.

Meanwhile, insurance firm PT Zurich Indonesia, the Indonesian subsidiary of Swiss insurer Zurich, found that its efforts to digitalize its business had bore fruit as it had attracted more policyholders and eased the tasks of its insurance agents.

It launched three online services — incident alert app Z-Alert, travel insurance website Z-Click and claim application portal Zurich e-Claim — last year and recently introduced its latest product, Zurich Insurance Platform (ZIP), which helps its agents and brokers offer vehicle insurance to potential customers.

Since last June, Z-Click service has served 3,000 policyholders, according to data from Zurich Indonesia.

Zurich Indonesia president director Philippe Danielski said the firm’s shift to online platforms had helped it reduce operational costs.

“Most importantly, though, it speeds things up. It also brings convenience and simplicity too, which is imperative in our line of service,” he said in a recent press conference.

Danielski also acknowledged that in the insurance industry, digitalization had not only changed corporate strategies but also customers’ expectations toward the services they received. Potential customers normally sought out relevant information prior to deciding to become policyholders, he added.

Zurich Indonesia is committed to developing its online services in the future.

“Going online is something more and more prevalent in Indonesia. Things have been growing for a while and we have been putting different pieces in place and bring the whole thing together as a constellation
located in this digital sphere,” Danielski said.

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