Bukalapak Partners with Tanamduit for BukaReksa

Bukalapak's BukaReksa increased diversification of its investment product by establishing a strategic partnership with an investment service startup, Tanamduit. Bukalapak started BukaReksa based on a partnership with Bareksa.

Destya Danang Pradityo, Bukalapak's Head of Payment & Financial Services, said the main reason behind the partnership is Tanamduit as an APERD (Mutual Fund Sales Representatives) has acquired license from OJK (Financial Services Authority). Later, there will be 5 new investment products from 3 asset management companies.

The five new investment products of BukaReksa are Bahana MES Syariah, Batavia Dana Dinamis, Sucorinvest Sharia Equity Fund, Sucorinvest Maxi Fund, and Batavia Dana Saham.

"We apply a strict KYC process within only 3-hour approval after the registration. BukaReksa and Tanamduit has no administration fees and all processes are transparent," Pradityo said.

BukaReksa has now provided 21 mutual fund products with variant risks and return, and has managed to reach nearly 150,000 investors.

Tanamduit's effort to expand its services

Previously, Mercato Digital Asia, a parent company of the mutual fund platform, Tanamduit, received seed funding worth of Rp44.7 billion (US$3 million) from RDN Kapital, a local venture capital affiliated with Minna Padi Group.

The fresh funding will be relocated to develop Tanamduit products, recruit new talents in IT and marketing, and launch some marketing activity initiatives. Regarding the current service, Muhammad Hanif, Tanamduit's Business Development Director, considered the partnership with Bukalapak as a strategic move.

"Learn from our previous experience, the user experience is the most important thing for us at Tanamduit and BukaReksa. Therefore, by creating a strict KYC with an easy and fast process for users."

Hanif added, the easy process is very relevant for retail customers who often experience difficulties and obstacles when registering to buy mutual fund in offline way. The online service technology, such as Bukalapak and Tanamduit, are expected to simplify the process.

Bank as agent is still dominating

Halim Haryono, OJK Investment Management's Deputy Director, welcome the strategic partnership of both. As a regulator supervising directly all activities of mutual fund transactions online, he said the service provided by BukaReksa and Tanamduit has affected the public's habit in purchasing mutual funds.

Showing a positive growth, either from increasing investors or online sales trend, OJK sees the bank as an entity that has the most customers in terms of mutual funds. The bank is considered to have clear markets and customers. However, OJK views the rise of fintech services is starting to help promote mutual fund products to the public.

Regarding its limit, the bank still has difficulty in reaching out to certain target markets. It's the market most online mutual fund service has targeted. This is expected to help government extending the public's interest in purchasing mutual funds.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian