By Reuters Staff
(Adds details)
JAKARTA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Indonesia s Financial Services Authority (OJK) said on Thursday that Sea Group s e-commerce arm Shopee had acquired local lender Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi (Bank BKE) IPO-KSJH.JK with the aim of transforming it into a digital bank.
OJK official Anung Herlianto said that Shopee, Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platform, has yet to make an official application with the banking regulators to transform Bank BKE into a digital institution, but they are “currently preparing the infrastructure to do so.” He told reporters that OJK was preparing regulations for new digital banks, which would likely be released in mid-2021, but that a digital lender like Bank BKE would be expected to prepare 3 trillion rupiah ($213.64 million) in capital.