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Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.
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State pawnshop Pegadaian on the lookout for fintech partners to develop digital financing
By admin on October 19, 2020
Ninis added that to finance Pegadaian’s future expansion plans, the company will issue sustainable bonds worth Rp 10 trillion for a two-year period.“Previously we reduced our [physical] outlets and replaced them with our online channel, and surprisingly our productivity has increased after that. This year we will explore which services can also be replaced by our online channel,” said Pegadaian director for information technology and digital Teguh Wahyono.Teguh added that Pegadaian would also collaborate with more giant e-commerce and digital payment platforms, as the company broadens its online channels.One of Pegadaian’s services that would be digitized is the company’s leading product, Tabungan Emas, which allows customers to save gold instead of hard cash. Tabungan Emas, which translates as gold saving, saw stellar growth in 2019, as the number of customers more than doubled to 4.6 million from 1.7 million in 2018.The balance amounts in Tabungan Emas also increased to 4.3 tons of gold in 2019, more than double the 2.1 tons seen in 2018.Pegadaian will launch a gold card similar to a credit card for customers of Tabungan Emas, thereby enabling them to conduct transactions using their gold savings. Kuswiyoto said the company will partner with three state banks and one private lender in issuing the credit card-like gold cards.”We will offer this card to our Tabungan Emas customers in which customers can use the card just like a credit card and can make transactions with merchants or withdraw money from ATM machines,” said Kuswiyoto.The gold card will use the customer’s gold savings to determine their credit limit based on the customers’ gold savings in Tabungan Emas.Topics : The fintech partnership is expected to help Pegadaian’s target to grow its financing by 17 to 18 percent this year and profit by 10 percent. In 2019, Pegadaian’s profit grew 12 percent year-on-year to Rp 3.1 trillion (US$226.2 million), while outstanding financing grew 23.3 percent to Rp 50.4 trillion over the same period.The company’s overall positive performance last year was driven by Pegadaian’s digital innovation and its products and its initiative to collaborate with partners, including e-commerce companies such as Blibli and Tokopedia, to market their products, said Pegadaian director for finance and strategic planning Ninis K. Adriani.“One of our strategies to drive our business is through business-to-business partnerships. As of today, we have partnered with 541 companies, both state-owned and private companies, to synergize our business. We also work with e-commerce companies such as Tokopedia and Blibli to help us grow our business,” since Ninis. Pegadaian currently has 13.86 million customers, a 30 percent increase from 10.64 million in 2018, thanks to its digital operations that have helped ease the customer experience. State-owned pawnshop PT Pegadaian is seeking several fintech partners to develop digital financing to expand its business and benefit from the rapidly growing sector.Pegadaian president director Kuswiyoto said on Thursday that the partnership with fintech operators was expected to further develop services the company provide in the Pegadaian Digital mobile apps.“People used to say fintech is a threat, but I say this is an opportunity because it’s going to grow big,” Kuswiyoto told a press briefing on the company’s business performance in 2019. The company has not yet disclosed its potential fintech business partners.
Hong Kong reported its second death from the new coronavirus on Wednesday as authorities drew up plans to fly home hundreds of city residents stranded on a virus-stricken cruise ship in Japan.The 70-year-old man who died had underlying illnesses and was one of 62 confirmed cases in the Chinese-ruled city, a Princess Margaret Hospital spokeswoman said.In addition to those cases, 52 Hong Kong residents have tested positive for the coronavirus on the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan. There are 352 Hong Kong residents on the ship. Topics : “We’ve urged the Japanese government to prioritize our cases,” Lee said.”We wouldn’t rule out the possibility of sending more charter flights but we’ll try our best to handle all of them in one day.”The flights are expected to return to Hong Kong on Thursday.The United States evacuated more than 300 nationals on Monday on two chartered flights and six South Koreans and one Japanese spouse flew to South Korea on Wednesday on a chartered flight.Australia also plans to evacuate 169 people to its northern city of Darwin, where they will be quarantined for 14 days.Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has urged both Hong Kong people on the cruise ship and those at home to accept the government’s quarantine plans.There has been opposition in some Hong Kong neighbourhoods to government plans to set up quarantine centres. Hundreds of people marched in different places over the weekend to voice opposition to the proposed centres.The crisis over the virus comes after months of anti-government demonstrations in the former British colony over the perceived erosion of freedoms by Beijing, which China denies, and the virus has opened up a new front for protesters.In addition to the opposition to quarantine centres, many members of the public have been calling on Lam to shut the entire border with mainland China. Some medical workers have been on strike to press that demand.But Lam has said the full closure of the border would be impractical, inappropriate and discriminatory and the government’s response to the outbreak was based on scientific advice and World Health Organization guidelines.
The ship has been quarantined in the port of Yokohama since Feb. 3 after a man, who disembarked in Hong Kong before it travelled to Japan, was diagnosed with the virus.More than 540 people have tested positive for the virus on the liner – the biggest concentration of infected people outside China.Speaking in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, Security Secretary John Lee said 200 out of the 352 Hong Kong residents on the ship, which is operated by Carnival Corp, were willing to take free, government charter flights home.The government was trying to convince the rest to board the flights, he said. Those coming back would be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine upon arrival.
He said the coronavirus infection had worsened the patient’s immune system, which had further exacerbated her preexisting illnesses. “So the coronavirus was not the main cause [of the patient’s death], but it had worsened her condition.”Read also: Lawmakers call for better coordination to detect COVID-19 as Indonesians test positive abroadAchmad did not disclose the nationality of Case 25, however, he said the embassy of her country had been notified when she tested positive for the virus, and that her body was already in the process of being taken home. He also did not reveal where Case 25 had been hospitalized, but said her husband had been by her side during her treatment.There have so far been 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia.As of Wednesday, Achmad said that two of the patients, Case 6 and Case 14, had tested negative for the virus after receiving treatment and were ready to be discharged. The patients had been ordered to self-isolate at home after being discharged as a precautionary measure, he said.Topics : Indonesia reported its first death from the coronavirus on Wednesday, a 53-year-old COVID-19 patient and foreign citizen identified as Case 25.The Health Ministry’s disease control and prevention director general Achmad Yurianto said Case 25 died at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday after nearly three days of receiving treatment.“The patient was admitted to the hospital in an already severe condition caused by preexisting illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, hyperthyroidism and years-long obstructive lung disease,” Achmad said.
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Greater Jakarta, region hit hardest by COVID-19, can’t agree on how to fight virus
By admin on
About a month after Indonesia reported its first coronavirus cases and three days after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo declared the outbreak a public health emergency requiring large-scale social restriction, the leaders of Greater Jakarta’s constituent cities have yet to agree on a single strategy to contain the pandemic. Despite Jokowi’s declaration on Tuesday, not a single city in the country has officially imposed a large-scale social restriction, also known as PSBB. According to the Government Regulation No. 21 on PSBB, provinces and cities are required to obtain a permit from the health minister to impose the policy. Jakarta, the epicenter of the outbreak, has already implemented PSBB measures, such as suspending office operations, shutting down schools and limiting religious gatherings, but it has yet to secure permission from the health ministry for the actions it has taken. The President has called on regional administrations, including Jakarta, to follow existing regulations in devising an anti-COVID-19 strategy and has asked Health Minister Terawan Adi Putranto to issue a health ministerial regulation detailing the criteria for regions to be granted PSBB status. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan was the first to request PSBB status. “What we need from the central government is to grant us the status so that we can issue regulations [to address COVID-19],” Anies said in a virtual meeting with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin on Thursday.He proposed that the PSBB policy for Jakarta should also be applicable to its satellite cities – the Greater Jakarta area – since the outbreak had affected the whole region. As of Thursday, Jakarta had confirmed at least 885 coronavirus cases with 90 deaths. West Java and Banten, the provinces where Jakarta’s satellites are located, followed the capital with 223 cases (25 deaths) and 164 cases (14 deaths), respectively. “We suggest that there should be a distinct policy for Greater Jakarta,” he said.Greater Jakarta includes South Tangerang, Tangerang municipality and Tangerang regency in Banten, as well as Depok, Bekasi municipality, Bekasi regency, Bogor municipality and Bogor regency in West Java. It covers about 30 million residents, many of whom, under normal circumstances, commute to work in the capital. Not all leaders of those cities and regencies are on the same page as Anies, however. Bogor deputy mayor Dedie Rachim said the city administration was preparing the prerequisites for PSBB and was set to hold a meeting with the Bogor Council on April 7 to reach a mutual understanding on the issue. “If we obtain a green light [at the meeting] and our working units are ready [to implement PSBB], we will propose it,” he told The Jakarta Post.He concurred with Anies, saying any attempt to fight the pandemic in the Greater Jakarta area should be coordinated with the other cities. South Tangerang deputy mayor Benyamin Davnie said the city’s working units were currently collating data, as required by the regulation, prior to conferring with its Regional Leadership Forum (Forkopimda). “Even though a decision should be made swiftly, the study should be well prepared,” he said. Tangerang regent Ahmed Zaki Iskandar said the regency was undecided and was in talks with the Banten governor and other mayors and regents in the province. Tangerang municipality, Bogor regency and Bekasi municipality have decided to go against Anies’ proposal, saying that implementing large-scale social restrictions would be financially costly and could trigger social unrest.“We encourage Jakarta to apply for a regional quarantine,” Bogor Regent Ade Yasin told the Post.The closure of access to and from Jakarta, the country’s center of business, would prevent Bogor commuters – who average 2 million on a regular day – from using public transportation.“Imposing a regional quarantine on Jakarta will help the capital handle the COVID-19 outbreak. It will also share the burden and responsibility of handling the outbreak with its satellite cities,” she said. Tangerang Mayor Arief R. Wismansyah also responded coolly to Anies’ proposal, saying that such a policy depended on the capital’s financial capability. “It is a wise consideration, but we have a limited city budget. We would need assistance [funds] from the Jakarta administration because one of the requirements to implement a large-scale social restriction is to guarantee people’s basic necessities,” he said.Bekasi deputy mayor Tri Adhianto said the city administration did not have any plan to apply for PSBB status with the central government. The city, however, would cooperate if the government granted Anies’ request for a large-scale social restriction status to be implemented throughout the Greater Jakarta area. Topics :