Bank Rakyat Indonesia
PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk ( 'Indonesian People's Bank', commonly known as BRI) is one of the largest banks in Indonesia. It specialises in small scale and microfinance style borrowing from and lending to its approximately 30 million retail clients through its over 8,600 branches, units and rural service posts. It also has a comparatively small, but growing, corporate business. As of 2022, it is the second largest bank in Indonesia by asset. BRI is the oldest bank in Indonesia, tracing back since 1895. It is currently 53% government owned operating company (Persero) and has been government-owned for the entire period since the war of independence (1945 to 1949) to November 2003, when 30% of its shares were sold through an IPO. History BRI was founded in 1895, during the Dutch colonial period as De Poerwokertosche Hulp en Spaarbank der Inlandsche Hoofden (Help and Savings Bank for Purwokerto's Aristocrats) by Raden Bei Aria Wirjaatmadja in Purwokerto, Central Java. It then underwent its first (of many) name changes to Hulp en Spaarbank der Inlandsche Bestuurs Ambtenaren (Help and Savings Bank for Local Civil Servants). Going through several name changes, its final name during the colonial period was Algemene Volkscredietbank (People's