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Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2020
BIBD drives smart nation goal with branchless
banking initiatives
In this age of digital and cashless economy, Bank
Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) as the nation’s
largest bank has always been at the forefront in
digital innovation, being one of the pioneering
banks to envision the future of the banking
ecosystem and branchless banking initiatives.
Branchless banking, a concept which seemed
far-fetched in the Sultanate back then, has
now become a standard and crucial component
in financial products and services offerings.
Defined as the delivery of financial solutions
outside conventional bank branches, this
concept allows customers to complete all
their banking needs without ever having to go
to the bank, and this is made possible through
technologies such as online, over the phone,
through point-of-sale systems, and ATMs,
among others.
With Brunei Darussalam’s high Internet and
mobile penetration, where 93 per cent of the
population has Internet access and 83 per cent
connecting to the Internet through their phones,
BIBD believes that there are still plenty of
opportunities that remain untapped.
BIBD’s branchless banking initiative takes on
a whole-of-nation approach, allowing for the
implementation of BIBD’s state-of-the-art
digital technologies in industries beyond the
banking sector, to enable the expansion of a
larger digital audience.
This amplification of a wider customer experience
provides opportunities for all mobile users to
avail of the technology which will promote
mass adoption of a robust digital ecosystem
in Brunei and enables increased de-cashing of
the economy through secure, innovative and
documented digital payments.
BIBD has always been on the frontier of digital
payment initiatives. Back in 2012, the bank
introduced the first iteration of their mobile
banking app and saw close to 17,000 downloads
in the first six months. Offering the ability to
instantly transfer funds and make payments,
the app recorded over 30,000 transactions per
month. In 2013, BIBD introduced a first of its
kind mobile payment service called eTunai,
enabling customers to make payments directly
through the app, either from their accounts or
by using accumulated BIBD’s reward points
known as Hadiah Points, simply by scanning
a QR code placed on merchant counters. This
service has evolved over the years to be BIBD
QuickPay.