Vishal Tulsian: Empowering Indonesians through Accessible and Hassle-Free Digital Loans

Amar Bank Indonesia began life as a small bank with only three branches, and if all went well, Tunaiku would become its main focus. Tulsian recalled proposing the Tunaiku product to the regulators in the country. He stated that it is to the credit of the collaborative approach by regulators that he was allowed to present the details around the product, which, being entirely new, required the regulators to understand the underlying risks and mitigations before being approved. One key factor that contributed to Tunaiku’s success was its unique approach. Unlike traditional financial institutions, it operated without relying on public deposits. This allowed greater flexibility, reduced risk, and ensured a more sustainable lending model.

Uniqueness in Approach

Amar Bank Indonesia was always designed to be completely different from a traditional bank, and Tulsian intentionally did not hire bankers to staff operations. Instead, he hired millennials with zero banking experience (the average age in the Amar Bank Indonesia team was 25 years old) and told them to focus on elevating the customer experience. The culture Tulsian instilled was not to assume any knowledge about the customer.

Any employee, whether from information technology (IT), finance, or marketing, was required to spend time with customers and ask them questions to discover their needs. Observing the customers thus became obligatory for all employees. One important lesson from these interviews was that the target customers had different values and needs. One of the team discoveries was that customers did not value time as much as the Amar Bank Indonesia staff thought but instead valued convenience more. Moreover, they discovered that customers needed modest installments and could not afford large loan repayments. “At first, customers were more likely to interact with the Tunaiku website. However, over time, as smartphones became more prevalent, including among the target group, they switched to the Tunaiku mobile application,” states Vishal.

The Road Ahead

Since its inception, Vishal Tulsian’s Tunaiku and Amar Bank Indonesia have gained significant recognition in the market because of advanced technology and an honest approach to revolutionizing the financial sector of Indonesia. He believes that AI technologies have been very useful in the financial sector and there is still a lot of scope for these technologies to further evolve the banking sector and give it an advanced digital outlook. “We have been evolving with the changing requirements and technologies in the industry and will continue to do so in the years to come”, concludes Vishal.

Vishal Tulsian, President Director, Amar Bank Indonesia

Vishal Tulsian is a financial expert and intrapreneur with 20+ years of experience in business strategy, financial planning, and leading teams. He holds an ACA certification, an MBA from the University of Liverpool, an MSc in Blockchain and Digital Currency from UNIC, an ACS, and a General Management Program certificate from Harvard Business School. He has also completed digital marketing and analytics courses from top institutions like Columbia Business School, MIT, Duke, and Upenn.

Since 2015, Vishal has been the CEO of PT Bank Amar Indonesia Tbk, focusing on transforming risk into growth opportunities. He is also the founder and CEO of Tunaiku, a FinTech startup offering consumer lending solutions in Indonesia to promote financial inclusion. Vishal is passionate about mentoring future leaders and values growth, excellence, and customer satisfaction.