JAKARTA — Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the country’s largest lender by assets, was flying high prior to the coronavirus pandemic: Of the five largest banks by assets, BRI was the only one that had recorded 20 consecutive years of growth in annual net profit.
But as COVID-19 hit the sprawling archipelago and forced the government to restrict economic activity, BRI’s streak came to an end. The state-owned bank was one of the worst affected, with its core customer base being the micro, small and medium enterprises that bore the brunt of the slowdown.
However, rather than walking away, BRI is ready to dive even deeper into the MSME space, where it sees growth opportunities in reaching out to even the tiniest businesses.
“BRI will become more distinctive by serving a smaller segment called ‘ultra-micro,'” Sunarso, the bank’s president director, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview. According to…
