Pegadaian Announces G5TAR Fintech Business Unit

PT Pegadaian (Pegadaian) announces the development of G5TAR business unit to support the company's initiative as a dominant fintech player. G5TAR is a realization of IDR 1.2 trillion investment last April. It'll be led by Rama Manusama (previously Chief of Innovation MDI Ventures) and Bhimo Hantoro (previously Accenture Netherland's Consultant). G5TAR is expected to distribute loans up to IDR 15 trillion by 2023.

G5TAR is said to perform as an omnichannel lending platform, available online and offline, to digitize Pegadaian business which mostly are offline, including through 4300 outlets all over Indonesia.

As a separate business unit, G5TAR is prepared to become a lending platform for individual consumers and micro business segments. Currently, Pegadaian reportedly has assets of IDR 50 trillion and profit of IDR 2,5 trillion.

"On this occasion, we see an opportunity to digitize some process and business development through fintech initiative particularly for consumers and micro-segments. Fintech has grown rapidly in Indonesia, but there are some reality check should be considered, such as the high price of consumer's acquisition which leads to limitation while scaling up. Pegadaian owns a physical footprint to answer all the challenges," Sunarso, Pegadaian's President Director, said.

Although the lending business will be the main guide of the company's business, the digital platform will also support Pegadaian's existing business, including fiduciary

"Fintech will certainly lead the future's economy and provide financial inclusion for consumer and business segments where banks haven't reached. We are targeting [to distribute loans] IDR 15 trillion for fintech channels over the next four years," Teguh Wahyono, IT and Digital Service Director, said.

Sets up a Digital Team

To support this initiative, Pegadaian keeps on recruiting new talents with high experience in the digital industry, investment, and corporate innovation.

In leading this initiative, Rama Manusama and Bhimo Hantoro are supported by Herdi Sularko (VP of Digital Partnership and Business Development) and Aditya Rachman (PMO and Change Management) in the G5TAR management boards. Previously, Herdi was MDI Ventures Head of Synergy and Partnership, while Aditya was the Country Head of LotusFlare, a Silicon Valley company engaged in data science to support telco business and OTT.

"We continue to build a team consists of some background industries, including banking, consulting, telco, venture capital, and startup to support our transformation into the future fintech company," he concluded.

– Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian