Armand Hartono
BCA - Bank Central Asia
Deputy President Director
Armand Hartono is the Deputy President Director at BCA. In an interview with Qorus, he explains how the Indonesian bank works daily to improve the world we live in and shares his unique perspective on what the role of a bank should be in today's world.
How do you envision the role of banks evolving to drive a positive future? What specific initiatives or strategies are you implementing to align with this vision?
We adhere to the classical concept of 'banco, which means ‘bench’ in Latin. A banco is a place where clients gather, get to know each other, help each other, and build trust. By helping each other, everyone acquires a bit more capital or energy, fostering mutual appreciation. As everyone helps each other, the economy grows.
For us, money represents more than just a medium for goods and services, it represents another form of energy. The universe and life revolve around energy. When we help someone, we expend energy, and when someone helps us, we reciprocate with gratitude and appreciation. A bank, then, is a platform that facilitates the transfer of this energy in different forms, such as appreciation and love. For instance, when parents pay for their children's education, it's an expression of their love.
Today, we call it payment settlement, which is essentially people helping each other and expressing their gratitude in the form of money. We are a platform that enables communities, families and businesses to appreciate each other. Some people need more energy, or capital, to build their businesses, buy homes or cars, and achieve their goals. To save and invest wisely, people need tools to reserve and invest their money, avoiding wastage. This is what we offer, whether it's called bancassurance, wealth management or consumer loans.
We remain true to the original narrative that a bank is a ‘bench’ for the community to help each other. While 40 or 50 years ago, this was done through physical branches, today, it occurs digitally on platforms like social media and the internet. We must be present there too. Since a bank is a platform, we should link to these platforms as well. We work together with e-commerce platforms and communities – whether it's a dry market, wet market, electronic market or internet market, banks have to be there.
This is our vision of what banking should be. While social media platforms focus on creating hype and generating clicks, banking focuses on helping people appreciate and support each other. We ensure people can pay each other and support funding needs when they are trustworthy, even if they lack money at the moment. We safekeep the money, provide insurance to build assurance, and incorporate wealth management for people to manage their money and energy. Life is all about energy; without energy, you tire out. Similarly, when you have no money and see a low balance on your mobile app, you feel drained.
That's a very original and philosophical point of view. And how are you incorporating environmental considerations into your business practices and product offerings?
Let’s start with the basic question: what is the most important thing in life, in the universe? Philosophically, I believe it is life itself. It's a miracle that we have life – humans, animals, plants, and all living beings. That’s the main point. We are part of the universe, and it’s a miracle that we have a unique form of life. So, whatever we do in life is about survival. Why would we destroy our environment and jeopardize our survival? We should do things that allow more life to thrive naturally. This should be everyone’s main concern.
However, people need energy for transportation, to buy goods, and to convert materials to make products like phones. A lot of energy is required for mining and other activities. It’s unavoidable that humans, who are innovative and skilled with tools, will use energy and change the environment. We build plantations, farms and cities, which change the environment. But so do other living beings that create and change their ecosystems. We have to accept that this is how humans live. But everyone can do something to help the environment, no matter how little or much.
For example, what can a bank do? What is the biggest energy usage in a bank? It’s the data center and the air conditioning in the branches. We can reduce energy usage by investing in better building insulation and cooling systems, and by educating people to not waste energy.
We can also stop wasting paper, which requires a lot of energy and water to produce. When workers are aware of these issues, they would prefer to work in a company that cares about the environment.
Our employees have evolved from clerical jobs in the 70s and 80s to analytical, relationship and innovation roles today. They aspire to work in a company that has meaning and cares about the world. This new generation may seem like complainers, but their expectations are different. They want more than just a good job with good pay. They want to ensure their work has a positive impact.
Beyond that, we talk to customers who care about saving energy, and we incorporate that into our business. For example, if you're modernizing your energy generator system to become more efficient, the bank can help you with the capital investment needed for these improvements. That’s something every bank can do.
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How about economic growth? How does BCA support economic growth within the communities you serve?
In the last 20 years, Indonesia has changed significantly. Twenty years ago, BCA had 4 million customers. In 2020, before Covid, it was 14 million. Today, we have 33 million. As the country grows, banks follow the business and trade. We grow together with the country. The general population moves from survival mode to the middle class, creating a greater need for banking.
There are the unbanked, the underbanked, and those who should be banked but aren't yet. Innovations in digital infrastructure have made banking more accessible.
First, businesses need access to the ecosystem and customers. Our initiatives for SMEs include business matching events, both physical and digital, working with e-commerce and social media. We have anniversary events every February, like the BCA Expo, where we invite our merchants and customers to meet, transact, and grow together.
We've also partnered with local governments, event organizers and international facilitators to help businesses export products. Those who need to grow their business can get capital and credit, as well as insurance for delivery and assets.
Creating pathways to good jobs is a core element of our positive banking approach. In Indonesia, with over 200 million people, having a good job is essential. People need food, clothing and health, but access to a good job is life-changing. Wherever their skills and aptitudes lie, we aim to equip individuals with the resources and know-how to thrive, be it through entrepreneurship, tourism or manufacturing.
A bank is nothing if the customer and community do not grow.
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Can you provide examples of programs or partnerships that have been successful in improving financial inclusion or financial health?
One such initiative is tourism villages. We curate villages with unique local cultures, and invest in educating and training people in these communities to help them attract visitors. This makes them economically viable and bankable. The accessibility provided by social media and the internet makes it easier. A nice vlog and YouTube channel showcasing the village can attract visitors. Post-Covid, people are eager to travel – and with 278 million people in Indonesia, domestic tourism plays an essential role.
Another impactful project is our SME festival, which involves collaboration with local government, e-commerce and local communities.
We work with whichever partners make sense in the specific location. For example, we have a special program where we work with universities to share our knowledge through internships, job openings and training opportunities. Students receive scholarships and, after training at BCA, they can work anywhere else. Services businesses love to hire our graduates because they are pre-trained.
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How are you fostering a culture of wellness and support for all employees in the workplace, especially in light of diversity and inclusion trends globally?
Indonesia is very diverse, with 600+ micro-languages and 190 dialects. Diversity and inclusion are foundational to our country. For example, women’s inclusion has been a norm since the 1920s. We have had a female president and many female CEOs. In BCA, almost 60% of employees are female, including our HR director and CFO. In companies like ours, these mindsets are ingrained.
As Indonesia modernizes, more households see both male and female members working, especially in urban areas. So balancing life and work is crucial. The principle in Indonesia is human responsibility first, then human rights. During independence, we understood that balance is needed. Discussing responsibilities – personal, family, and as employees – is essential. Happiness and life balance are personal responsibilities, but the environment should support this. We emphasize doing things together.
At BCA, our main focus is team engagement and having good successors. New employees quickly get engaged, understand the meaning of their work, have good friends, and have leaders who care. Local leaders need to know how to lead and engage the teams. We focus on ensuring the next generation is better than us, choosing leaders who are good examples.
When people were just surviving, there were fewer complaints. It is a different situation now, with many employees are now middle-class citizens which is Indonesia’s current issue, and so is BCA. We must ensure the next generation of workers, what we call the knowledge workers, continue to grow successfully. In the last decade, we’ve been transitioning to the younger generation. Many of our seniors are retiring, leaving us with 65-70% young employees. The challenge is ensuring the young generation grows wise and more successful.
Our turnover ratio is below 2%, and in the IT team, it's around 3%, whereas the average in similar condition could be 20%. BCA consistently ranks among the top 50 best companies to work for globally, according to Gallup research. So, I think we are doing something right. You have to spend time and be present. It’s not enough for leaders to just hold town hall meetings and give directions. You have to be there for your employees, be in the middle, show examples, support them, and ask what they need. Sometimes it's as simple as providing new tools for efficiency. Some of the older generation might think the younger ones are full of complaints and not loyal. That’s not true – they just need someone to talk to. When you ask them what they need, many of their ideas make sense.
We create innovation competitions internally. The younger employees love to compete, and if their ideas get implemented, they get funded. It feels like being in a startup and appreciated, which is very encouraging for them. They want to see improvements and changes every year. If the way you work stays the same and is inefficient, the younger generation will push for improvement.
You mentioned the importance of digital services and online presence. Do branches still play a major role in your operations?
Every customer uses digital transactions – 99.8% of transactions are done outside the branch. But our branches are still very crowded. People still want to come to the branch for physical cash deposits and community gatherings. So, branches are still very important.
Digital banking is important – people can open accounts digitally – but people will only put most of their money in places they really trust. They still want to know someone. We still meet our clients when we disburse loan, even though we have data analytics. Pure digital doesn’t work alone; it helps for day-to-day transactions and scalability. But don’t forget people. To make friends, people need community. We are social beings.
Digital is great, but it's not enough. Opening branches leads to faster business returns—within 1-3 years. We keep opening branches, but with a different form—fewer people and better technology. Technology can reduce waste and scale up services.
Same thing with the workplace. People can work from anywhere, but the younger generation still wants to come to the office and meet people. It's more engaging. However, commuting to central Jakarta can take one to two hours, so we create office hubs in high-density residential areas. Employees travel five minutes to half an hour to meet their teams and then go back to their families.
We already have the buildings, so we save costs and the environment – less gasoline wasted. We can also manage security better than with work-from-home arrangements. Less engagement is another risk of work-from-home. We learned in 2020-2022 that while digital meetings are great, face-to-face interaction is more engaging.
Any other comments on bridging the gap between physical and digital?
Yes: our contact center has become pivotal. It was ignored in many companies, but we made it the front line of our business. Twenty years ago, when we scaled up our business, our branches couldn't handle all the inquiries. It wasn't just complaints; people needed help with confusion, not knowing what to do, pressing wrong buttons, forgetting passwords, etc. We needed to centralize that, so we built our contact center.
The center has grown from handling 6,000-10,000 calls per day 10 years ago to 100,000-150,000 today, mostly inquiries. It has been recognized as the world’s best contact center by the Global Contact Center World Awards for 14 years in a row.
We realized customers need someone to talk to. Today, with digital services, people prefer chatting or calling instead of going to branches. A lot of digital banks have great user experience apps but lack good contact centers, which is useless. Things happen, no matter how good your digital services are; people will have questions, get confused, or get scammed.
Digital banks shouldn't just be about apps without contact. We should talk about what customers need and deliver it. Whether digital or not, if you don't deliver what customers need, you're not a good bank. Technology allows us to scale up and be more efficient, but don’t throw away the human touch. To be a good business, you need both personal banking and digital experience. Then you have better returns. Customers are happier and it’s still cost-efficient.
