SBCS Indonesia
SBCS Indonesia operates at the intersection of two of Asia's busiest business corridors, helping companies grow between Indonesia and Japan through financing, research, and strategic connections. Then Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, one of Japan's largest financial institutions, acquired the company. A new name. A new institutional standing. The digital presence needed to catch up to both.
Challenge
The pre-acquisition website was built for a different company. In B2B financial services, credibility isn't separate from the product, it is the product. A decision-maker evaluating SBCS for financing, trying to work out if this firm has the institutional weight to trust with a real deal. A business owner researching market entry into Indonesia, needing proof SBCS actually knows the terrain. Neither found what they needed on a site that still looked and read like the company before the acquisition. The business needed its digital presence to catch up, fast.
My Roles
I owned this project end to end as the sole Product Designer, from brand analysis through to UI handoff. I worked alongside the development team and managed the design relationship with PT. SBCS Indonesia's stakeholders as the primary client contact throughout.
Process
I started with brand analysis and B2B market benchmarking, mapping how comparable financial firms in the Indonesia-Japan corridor present themselves digitally, and where SBCS needed to sit within that landscape. The design direction was anchored in SBCS's new post-acquisition identity. Not a generic financial template, a platform that legibly carried both the local expertise of SBCS Indonesia and the institutional weight of its SMBC Group parent. From there, content restructuring, full UI design, development, QA, launch.
Key Decision
SMBC Group Affiliation Surfaced as A Primary Trust Signal
In B2B financial services, institutional backing is part of what a client is buying. So I made the SMBC Group relationship immediately visible, not buried in an About page. A first-time visitor evaluating SBCS for financing establishes the institutional context within seconds of landing. For a firm where trust drives the first call, that visibility is load-bearing.
Service Clarity Over Brand Storytelling
SBCS's four service areas, financing, business strategy, research reports, business matching, are how B2B decision-makers actually evaluate the firm. So I structured the platform around those services as the primary navigation, not around brand narrative. Someone arriving with a specific business need finds the relevant service and qualifies SBCS's offering, without interpreting what the brand stands for first.
Post-Acquisition Identity Alignment, Not a Generic Redesign
The brief wasn't a better-looking financial website. It was closing the gap between what SBCS Indonesia had become and what its platform was still communicating. Visual language, content tone, structural hierarchy, every decision was made against the SMBC Group standard, so the platform reflected the acquisition instead of predating it.
Validation
The design went through an internal review with the MAI team before being presented to PT. SBCS Indonesia's stakeholders. Feedback from both rounds shaped the final platform before launch.
Solution
The rebuilt platform presents SBCS Indonesia's four service areas with the clarity and institutional depth a B2B financial audience expects. The SMBC Group affiliation is prominent throughout. A dedicated information and research reports section supports lead qualification. A careers section reflects the firm's growth under new ownership. The visual system and content tone are aligned with SMBC Group's standards, not the pre-acquisition brand.
Result
- Digital presence rebuilt to reflect SBCS Indonesia's post-acquisition standing as an SMBC Group affiliate
- B2B decision-makers evaluating the firm for financing or consulting now find service clarity and institutional credibility in one platform, replacing a site that undercut both
- SMBC Group affiliation positioned as a visible trust signal instead of background context
- Platform structured around SBCS's actual service lines, financing, business strategy, research, business matching, rather than generic brand storytelling
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