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he Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) has agreed to synergize its cloud computing technology to reduce costs and make banking processes more efficient.

Himbara, which consists of four banks, namely Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Mandiri, believes collaboration to develop cloud technology can support their businesses as they embark on the digital transformation journey.

“Cloud computing is the foundation of other important technologies such as artificial intelligence, block chain and data science,” Rico Usthavia Frans, Bank Mandiri’s director of information technology and operation, said on Thursday.

Himbara cloud task force head Andi Nirwoto, who also serves as BTN IT director, said the collaboration for Himbara cloud technology would be applied first to banks’ non-core businesses, such as for fraud management and risk management purposes.

For fraud management, for instance, in a case where there is an indication of ATM fraud, a state-owned bank can share necessary information through Himbara cloud, to ensure the problems can be solved faster.

The synergized cloud technology can also help banks improve their risk management systems. For example, if a potential borrower has a poor record, other banks can get the information and be more aware of the risks.

In the future, Himbara will utilize cloud technology sharing in banks’ core businesses. However, the plan is subject to regulatory approval.

“One example would be the electronic know your customer [e-KYC] process. Let’s say a customer had already opened a bank account in Bank Mandiri. If later they want to open a bank account in another state-owned bank, he does not need to go through the e-KYC process again,” he said.

So far, each state-owned bank has developed its own cloud technology system. BTN has adopted cloud technology since 2008 in almost all of its banking services, from private to public clouds. For the public cloud, BTN has applied the technology for its websites, namely btnproperti.co.id and rumahmurahbtn.co.id.

“In the short term, BTN will expand the use of cloud technology to improve agility in the face of Industry 4.0, specifically for defined data center software and hybrid cloud, supported by artificial intelligence operations,” Andi said.

BNI has also applied a private cloud — which stores non-public information — for BNI mobile banking, BANSOS and e-Office. It uses a public cloud for BNI e-Learning, online surveys and project-based activities, and a hybrid cloud for e-Absensi, Chatbot Cinta and Digifest.

BNI uses three schemes, consisting of private, public and hybrid clouds. The private cloud is for storing non-public information, the public cloud is for public information and the hybrid combines the BNI cloud and public cloud. “By using cloud technology, we can reduce costs, said Sony Setiadi, BNI’s vice president of IT infrastructure.

In 2019, each state-owned bank is committed to investing more in technology development. The country’s most profitable bank, BRI, has allocated Rp 3 trillion [US$206.8 million] for technology investment. Bank Mandiri will invest Rp 2 trillion in 2019, followed by BNI with Rp 1 trillion and BTN with Rp 500 billion.