The publicly listed bank is currently in talks with two fintech companies, Garasi.id and KlikACC, and is considering forming partnerships with them to help support its business through technological innovation.

“Digital technology will make our business processes more efficient. We will continue observing fintech developments,” said BCA director Henry Koenaifi on the sidelines of an event on Tuesday.

“If there is a good opportunity, we will forge partnerships with them.”

Garasi.id, the first fintech company to open talks with BCA, provides an online marketplace for people to buy and sell used cars online in the Greater Jakarta area.

The firm is a sister company of online community website Kaskus, which is affiliated with diversified conglomerate Djarum Group — also a major shareholder of BCA.

“What differentiates us [from competitors] is that we provide car inspections and personal assistant services,” said Yanuar Suhardiman, operations manager of Garasi.id.

Yanuar stated that Garasi.id was in a partnership with BCA Finance, BCA’s subsidiary engaged in multi-finance, but declined to elaborate on the details of the partnership.

The second fintech firm, KlikACC, is a peer-to-peer lending platform, which partners with large companies such as Indosat and Tokopedia, and utilizes their distribution channels to disburse loans, mainly to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“BCA will partner with KlikACC to support its micro loan disbursement,” BCA’s Henry said.

Earlier this year, BCA invested funds worth Rp 300 billion (US$22.2 million) to build a venture capital firm called Central Capital Ventura (CCV), which aims to invest in potential fintech companies that can support the bank and its financial services subsidiaries.

Such investments come after the fintech industry has demonstrated rapid growth in the past several years.

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) recorded that 135 fintech start-ups had emerged as of the fourth quarter of 2016, up from 51 in the first quarter.

The fintech sector covers various types of businesses, namely payment services, which dominate the industry in Indonesia with 57 companies, constituting 42.54 percent of all firms, followed by lending businesses, aggregator, crowdfunding and personal or financial planning.

Market statistics portal Statista has forecast that transactions on fintech platforms would reach a value of US$37.15 billion in 2021, up from an estimated $15.02 billion in 2016, and that the fintech industry would grow at almost 20 percent per year over that period.

Seeing such prospects, BCA on Tuesday organized a two-day event called ‘Indonesia Knowledge Forum VI,’ which brought together 35 startups and a number of experts from relevant industries to exchange ideas about the incorporation of digital technology to accelerate the companies’ growth.

Aside from BCA, other big banks have also engaged in fintech businesses, including state-owned lender Bank Mandiri, which owns a venture capital subsidiary called PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI).

Meanwhile, state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) plans to acquire a venture capital firm worth Rp 500 billion this month.

Realizing that the value of the digital economy will hit $130 billion by 2020, the Indonesian government has committed to supporting the industry by issuing an e-commerce roadmap to help guide industry players.

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