Abshar Aryun Abary, 24, was immediately drawn to the vibrant debit card designs. They came in four different colours—red, pink, yellow and blue—and each card features one of the three LINE Friends—Brown, Cony, and Sally.

Japanese messaging app LINE’s 13 million Indonesian users have come to know and love its iconic animal sticker characters since its launch in 2011. When the company introduced its digital bank in Indonesia in June, the colourful debit cards were one of the main hooks, along with an IDR 150,000 (US$10) cashback offer.

Abary, who works for a tech company in Jakarta, was almost hooked but then quickly learned that there wasn’t much else on offer.

AUTHOR

Yunindita Prasidya

Based in Indonesia, Dita is passionate about tracking the country’s growing digital economy. Her coverage is sector-agnostic—she has written about e-commerce, edtech, fintech, venture capital, and publicly-listed companies, as well as stories on careers and workplaces. She was previously a business journalist covering banking and the stock market at The Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s leading English daily.

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