OVO and BRI Announces "OVO U Card" Co-Brand Credit Card

OVO becomes the latest company to announce credit card co-branding with banks. Bank BRI is selected as the partner to present the "OVO U Card". This credit card targets the younger generation and digital natives to gain easy access to digital transactions.

Based on the research by Brilio.net in collaboration with JakPat Mobile Survey, around 59% the majority of Indonesian young people, especially the upper middle class, prefer cashless transactions, including credit cards. In fact, 63% of young people are fond of their needs of credit card, although some stated the uneasy access. In addition, BCG survey result shows that credit card penetration in Indonesia is relatively low at around 6%.

"The launching of OVO U Card emphasizes the closer synergy between fintech and the banking industry to drive economic growth, especially for millennials as the major population, including OVO users of which 63% are millennials. The services in the OVO application are becoming more complete with the seamless integration between OVO and BRI which allows users to fully manage OVO U Card transactions in the OVO application," OVO's President Director, Karaniya Dharmasaputra said in an official statement, Monday (6/12).

OVO U Card is designed as a product that is easy to access and manage, for installment schedules, available programs from BRI and the OVO and Grab ecosystems, and the transaction history. Cardholders can also enjoy additional rewards and benefits from the two ecosystems, more convenient access for various services and offers from popular merchants, and free annual fees.

Currently, the OVO U Card is only available for selected users with good transaction history on the OVO app. Due to convenience, the submission and verification process are done through the OVO app within a maximum of 1 working day. Users can easily convert transactions into 0% installments for up to 12 months. Also, the Mastercard network can be used for abroad transactions.

For the record, Grab was previously collaborated with Bank Danamon. The offers provided are more or less the same, for example, auto upgrade membership status to Grab Platinum and get GrabCar booking priority, convert transactions into installments of up to 36 months, and so on.

BRI also cooperates with Traveloka in providing Traveloka PayLater. Bank Mandiri, on the other hand, partners with Shopee and Traveloka. Also, BCA with Blibli and Tiket.com.

Credit card is getting more accessible

In the past, credit cards were considered premium items as they could only be owned by “privileged” customers. This is reasonable as banks are responsible for distributing loans sourced from public funds.

The situation results in stagnant growth from year to year. Based on Bank Indonesia's data in May 2021, the value of credit card transactions was recorded at Rp. 19.7 trillion. This amount decreased slightly by 1.6% compared to the previous month of Rp20 trillion. Despite the decline, the total volume of transactions with credit cards increased, the number increased by 0.9% from 23.3 million transactions in April 2021 to 23.5 million transactions in May 2021.

Credit card transactions dropped significantly during the pandemic, due to restrictions on community activities. Its values ​​began to improve in late 2020 and March 2021, but have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, electronic money is increasingly being used by the public. The transaction value reached the highest figure of IDR 23.7 trillion in the past year in May 2021.

In response to this condition, a technology company that collaborated with banks to release credit card products was finally answered. Armed with data on customers who regularly pay and are diligent in transacting, they offer credit cards so that their users can "level up."