The company’s focus on building strategic partnerships and strengthening its client base over the last few years appears to be paying off. — Bloomberg
JAKARTA: PT Bank Jago, an Indonesian digital lender, more than doubled profit in the first nine months of the year, driven by a surge in interest income amid growing app usage.
Net income rose to 199.13 billion rupiah (US$12mil) for the January-to-September period, a significant jump from 85.84 billion rupiah the year before.
Net interest income and operating profit jumped 65% and 63%, respectively, on the back of a 36% increase in lending.
Funding balances, which represent the total amount of funds raised from its customers, jumped 41%.
The company’s focus on building strategic partnerships and strengthening its client base over the last few years appears to be paying off.
This was according to a research note from Henan Putihrai Sekuritas last month.
The brokerage said that Bank Jago aims to establish a pipeline of wealth management products and app features to monetise its user base, alongside expanding its in-house direct lending efforts.
It expects direct lending to become a meaningful contributor to the bank’s earnings in the coming years, potentially driving its net interest margin up to 9.9% by fiscal year 2027.
Bank Jago, backed by Indonesian tech giant GoTo Group, rose 1.7% in early trading yesterday, after earlier falling as much as 4.4%, while the main index was little changed.
As of September, the number of Bank Jago’s digital banking and lending customers rose to 18.6 million from 14.1 million a year ago. — Bloomberg
