Bandung, 28 February 2014 – PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk (SMBCI) has made a tangible contribution to the city of Bandung, its place of birth 56 years ago, by completing the restoration of the De Driekleur (Three Colors) building which stands in the area of Dago in West Java’s capital.
De Driekleur forms part of Bandung’s cultural heritage. Now that the building has been fully restored, SMBCI plans to use it as a branch of SMBCI Sinaya.
SMBCI Sinaya is the funding business unit of SMBCI which provides personalized service to all its customers, regardless of the value of their savings. In line with the vision of SMBCI to become the best mass market bank in Indonesia, with the ability to change the lives of millions of Indonesians, all funds that are collected through SMBCI Sinaya are distributed in full to lower income communities as well as to micro and small enterprise entrepreneurs in the form of loans through the other SMBCI business units (SMBCI Purna Bakti, SMBCI Mitra Usaha Rakyat, and SMBCI Syariah).
Not just this, Bank Sinaya also offers an opportunity to all its savers and depositors to participate in its mission of empowering the millions of people in the Indonesian mass market through the Sahabat Daya program. This program opens up avenues for savers and depositors to share their experienes and interact directly with mass market customers.
“Bandung was the place of SMBCI’s inception 56 years ago. Due to Bandung’s special, nostalgic place in the company’s history, SMBCI felt obliged, but also honored, to make a contribution to the city by restoring some of its cultural heritage,” said Ongki W. Dana, Deputy President Director SMBCI at the SMBCI Sinaya Dago Restoration event held on Friday, February 28.
The restoration process of the De Driekleur building was led by Budi Lim, an experienced architect with expertise in the fields of conservation and restoration. Budi Lim’s expertise in these areas was recognized when he was presented with the highest award at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards in 2001 after restoring the National Archives Museum in Jakarta. The restoration process of the De Driekleur took about four years.
“Most of that time I actually spent doing research into the building and the materials that were used by the architect who worked on it. We have tried really hard to restore the building to its original state,” said Budi Lim who was in attendance at the event.
De Driekleur was built in 1938 by a Dutch architect named Albert Frederik Aalbers. Aalbers, at the time, was considered one of the most renowned architects throughout the Dutch East Indies. Aalbers, along with other young architects of the time, was heavily influenced by the artistic style known as Art Deco.
Art Deco designs have a clear architectural language that reflects the spirit of freedom and progress. In Art Deco buildings, space has a distinct function which always emphasizes quality above quantity. Art Deco is always made on an unpretentious and humane scale. ”For the 4 to 5 years that I studied Aalbers’ De Driekleur building, I noticed a common thread that linked SMBCI with the spirit and soul of the Art Deco movement, in that both take into consideration the interests of the middle and lower sectors of society,” added Budi Lim.
SMBCI is a bank with a commitment to serving and empowering the lower income segment of society as well as micro and small enterprise entrepreneurs, including productive poor communities (mass market).
Ongki sincerely hopes that the efforts of SMBCI in preserving the cultural heritage of Bandung will have positive benefits for the city’s population. At the same time, customers will also experience added comfort while doing their banking activities at SMBCI Sinaya.
“When people come to visit this new SMBCI Sinaya Dago branch, they will be able to enjoy the well-maintained cultural and historical heritage of the building,” Ongki concluded.
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