[4] It specialises in small scale and microfinance[5] style borrowing from and lending to its approximately 30 million retail clients through its over 8,600 branches, units and rural service posts.
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.
[7] 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).
As part of the reformasi (reform) process in Indonesia since 1998, the government has been steadily reducing its influence on the Bank's day-to-day operations, culminating in its IPO.
[9] In April 2014, BRI contracted with Space Systems/Loral and Arianespace to, respectively, build and launch their first satellite, a 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) C-band and Ku-band spacecraft dubbed BRIsat, and on 18 June 2016, Ariane 5 has successfully launched BRIsat as the first satellite owned and operated by a bank in the world to link the bank's geographically isolated branches.