BRI Wins Two Prestigious Awards from Asiamoney

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BBRI) once again was named Indonesia's Best Bank for SMEs 2020 and Indonesia's Best Bank for CSR 2020 at the Asiamoney Best Bank Award 2020. Asiamoney assessed that BRI as the oldest bank in Indonesia has shown a role at the forefront in supporting recovery of national economy due to the impact of COVID-19.

Asiamoney is an internationally renowned economic and financial media that focuses on banking, capital markets, investment, exchange rates and treasury as well as regional markets in Asia. Asiamoney Best Bank Award is an award event held as a token of appreciation for financial institutions that have made proud achievements over the past 12 months.

President Director of Bank BRI Sunarso said Best Bank for SME's and Best Bank for CSR were two awards which motivated all BRI employees to continue to carry out the ongoing transformation program with the aim of providing the best financial services for customers, especially SMEs and supporting the government's efforts in national economic recovery.

"We certainly appreciate this award and it will be our motivation to continue the transformation program that has been carried out since 2016 with the aim of improving performance and serving customers and society better. Especially SME's which has become BRI's DNA," said Sunarso, Tuesday (6/10).

Referring to the official website of Asiamoney, BRI Bank is considered to have shown its role at the forefront of economic risks faced by the nation. The impact of the corona virus (COVID-19) is of course an immediate danger, but the long-term hurdle for the economy is ensuring small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) drives the economic growth and BRI.

President Joko Widodo's administration has allocated nearly US $ 50 billion for the economy. But how BRI bank respond to this condition will be very important to keep the SME business in this country survive.

The SME sector, which is BRI's focus, has a share of around 99% or 62 million businessmen, of the total businessmen in Indonesia. Nearly 30% of these businessmen, or around 18 million of them, have accessed bank financing.

Since its establishment, BRI Bank has a micro-business DNA, is committed and consistent in maintaining its dominant business in the SME segment. BRI's mission in the future is to be able to serve as many people as possible at the lowest possible price. The key is digitization. "Bank BRI continues to accelerate digital transformation. The steps are go smaller, go shorter, go faster, go cheaper," explained Sunarso.

"As the pandemic has threatened Indonesia's per capita income generation over the past two decades, the performance of developing microfinance has become more important. That is why all eyes are on BRI Bank, the bank with the largest assets in Indonesia - and an important player in the small-scale lending and microfinance space," Asiamoney wrote.

Meanwhile, BRI Bank received the Best Bank for CSR 2020 award because it is considered to have a commitment to continue carrying out sustainable CSR programs. According to Asiamoney, BRI's deep and diverse corporate social responsibility efforts have finally made a real difference. Its community development program, known as BRI Cares, is still considered the best CSR program in the industry.

BRI Bank's CSR program focuses on several important sectors, namely: disaster response, environmental stability, health, and poverty alleviation. In 2019, BRI Bank has disbursed more than US $ 15.4 million for BRI Cares activities.

"The bank's commitment to CSR has been recognized internationally. Last year, BRI's ranking in the MSCI ESG index - which measures environmental, social and corporate governance policies - was upgraded from BBB to A. BRI also achieved a sizeable increase from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, thanks to its support for government programs that focus on public health and welfare through loans and grants," wrote Asiamoney.

Information about BANK BRI can be accessed through the website www.bri.co.id

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20201009/2945143-1?lang=0