At the online presentation of the BRI EGMS press conference, BRI president director Sunarso revealed that the company continued to explore new sources of growth in line with its aspiration to become a champion of financial inclusion. The ultra-micro segment has been identified as a new source of growth through the establishment of the ultra-micro ecosystem. This ecosystem will provide integrated financial services for entrepreneurs of the ultra-micro segment, thus enabling the mechanism for upgrading to micro-customers to be more well-organized.

This plan is also in line with the government's vision in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan, which is to encourage financial inclusion. Therefore, the government intends to establish an ultra-micro holding company consisting of BRI, Pegadaian and PNM. In this case, BRI will be appointed as holding parent.

"Based on data from the Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry, the Asian Development Bank and the results of the BRI analysis, in 2018 there were around 45 million ultra-micro businesses that needed additional funding. So far, only about 15 million ultra-micro businesses have been touched by funding from formal financial institutions. By reaching the potential of ultra-micro, the accessibility of financial services in this segment can be optimized," explained Sunarso.

In this PMHMETD, the government will deposit all of its Series B shares in Pegadaian and PNM to BRI or Inbreng. After the transaction, BRI will own 99.99 percent of Pegadaian and PNM shares. In addition, the government will continue to own one Series A Dwiwarna share in Pegadaian and PNM. “The company plans to issue a maximum of 28,677,086,000 Series B shares with a nominal value of Rp 50. The number of shares and the exercise price will be announced later," added Sunarso.

The proceeds from this corporate action will be used by BRI for the establishment of the ultra-micro holding company, which is carried out through BRI's investment in Pegadaian and PNM, as a result of the government's involvement. The rest will be used as BRI's working capital for the development of the ultra-micro ecosystem, as well as micro and small businesses.

This corporate action will have an impact on BRI's consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2021, including increasing BRI's total assets from Rp 1.411 quadrillion to Rp 1.515 quadrillion, BRI's total liabilities increasing from Rp 1.216 quadrillion to Rp 1.289 quadrillion; and BRI's net profit increased from Rp 7 trillion to Rp 8 trillion.

Sunarso added that the ultra-micro holding company would not only provide benefits for BRI, Pegadaian and PNM but also for ultra-micro businesses and the national economy. “PNM will play a role in the Empowerment phase. The group loans disbursed by PNM are not only valuable as financing, but also function in providing assistance and capacity building. Then, in the Integration phase, BRI and Pegadaian can help business actors in this segment with various pawn and KUR products," he explained.

“Furthermore, in the last stage, which is the Upgrade phase, the ultra-micro holding company allows ultra-micro business actors to upgrade to become BRI micro customers on a commercial basis. This process will occur in one ecosystem so that it will be more effective and efficient,” added Sunarso.

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