Taking digitalisation to the next level with BNIDirect

As companies across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand grappled with cash flow issues due to Covid-19, BNI was able to respond with various solutions to help these businesses achieve more efficient cash management processes.

These focused mainly on the changing demands and emerging challenges facing corporate clients in relation to payments, collections and liquidity.

“We have solutions to every one of our clients’ business needs,” said BNI vice president director Adi Sulistyowati. ”These include BNIDirect as BNI’s Cash Management system that combines three basic functions: collection management, liquidity management, and payment management, online bank guarantee, financial supply chain management, and open banking ecosystem, all of which can be accessed through mobile and web-based applications.”

Meanwhile, beyond these achievements, BNI is now eyeing three key initiatives in 2022:

1. A digital customer onboarding for corporate and commercial clients
2. Presenting overseas with BNI’s integrated cash management solutions
3. Enabling even more paperless banking processes

Connected cash management

In short, BNI’s objective for its cash management solutions is to offer companies a one-stop shop to manage their cash flow, integrated with the business community.

“We look to make it possible for clients to do various activities easily, quickly and precisely, such as managing financial flows, supporting business decision-making and optimising company profits,” explained Sulistyowati, who is familiarly called Susi.

To be an international bank and to support overseas investors, BNI pays more attention to digitalisation, integrates end-to-end and provides solutions that are suited to customers’ needs. Developing overseas transaction banking solutions also means providing consolidated financial data, both cross currency and cross border.

BNI has also been able to offer ways to integrate cash management within other parts of the transaction banking offering.

In trade finance, for example, it has brought services online and more accessible for corporate and commercial customers. It uses a web-based application system instead of paper-based submissions and decisions for trade finance transactions. “BNI trade customers can now conduct various transactions for BNI's trade finance products, including requesting trade transactions and transaction decisions, by accessing BNI’s cash management system,” Susi said.

New initiatives for 2022

Building on its innovations, BNI’s three-pronged goal this year is designed to further enhance its cash management and transaction banking capabilities.

For example, a digital customer onboarding system for corporate and commercial clients intends to accelerate the onboarding experience for customers by making it possible for them to onboard digitally.

BNI is also globalising cash management, providing a way for corporate and commercial clients domiciled in Indonesia or overseas to settle their transactions securely and comfortably.

BNI’s cash management system is now available at BNI’s London branch, marking the first phase of this global transaction banking roll-out. It includes a non-resident current account, giving overseas clients who are non-residents in Indonesia the ability to open a current account onshore if they need to settle local transactions.

Multi-currency current accounts are also part of the offering. “This is a unique value proposition,” said Susi. “With our multi-currency current account, our clients can have more than one currency within one master account.”

Further, BNI is delivering on the need to embrace digitalisation through a wider range of paperless banking processes.

One of these is using digital signature for BNI bank guarantees. “Supported by our online application process, clients no longer have to come to our branch to apply for, or be issued with, a BNI bank guarantee,” added Susi.

In addition, the bank is evolving BNI Smart Commerce Pay, a digital solution provided specifically for a business community or ecosystem consisting of sellers and buyers to manage sale and purchase payment transactions.

More broadly, this reflects the direction of BNI’s cash management solutions. ‘We can offer the ecosystem or business community platform of choice to make transactions easier, more effective and more efficient,” said Susi.