Ongoing daily activities at Halomoney financial technology (fintech) company in Kuningan, Jakarta, on Friday (17/2). Halomoney is an online service where people can compare financial products.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The banking sector is choosing to embrace financial technology (fintech) startups when these business models grow in the country. These startup businesses have direct contact with the banking sector.
Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI) is developing a fintech startup. This year, the subsidiary of state-owned lender PT Bank Mandiri has allocated Rp 550 billion.
MCI financial director Hira Laksamana said on Monday (20/2) in Jakarta that MCI targeted investing in eight-10 fintech companies this year. So far, MCI had invested in four of them.
“One of them is Moka. MCI injected US$2 million capital in syndication to the fintech company, which focuses on point of sales. We injected capital into Moka because it helps develop small and medium enterprises [SME],” he said.
Hira said MCI would inject capital into fintech startups in the future. Investing in these startups, MCI would always be prudent and select businesses through the Mandiri incubation system.
“From 10 startups, only one on average meets the requirements for capital injection. The rest fail to impress us because their businesses are not mature,” he said.
CIMB Niaga digital banking, branchless and partnership head Bambang Karsono Adi said with the current development of fintech it was the right time for CIMB Niaga to cooperate with fintech companies.
“With their rapid systems, fintechs can be the right partners for CIMB Niaga to collaborate and offer services to our customers,” he said.
Meanwhile, state-owned lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia did not see fintechs as competitors. “BNI sees fintechs as a complementary factor for the financial industry. Thus, financial service customers have alternatives to source financing,” BNI corporate secretary Ryan Kiryanto said.
Meanwhile, state-owned lender PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia sees fintech development as being unavoidable. This is because of changes to the banking industry paradigm from technological developments.
“Fintechs are not competitors because banks and fintech have different segments and markets,” BRI corporate secretary Hari Siaga Amijarso said.
Investor protection
Trust in fintech businesses continues to grow. Therefore, fintech businesses need to strengthen investor and consumer protection.
Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) have issued regulations and setup supervision to strengthen this protection. Several big investors in fact have their own mechanisms to invest in this business sector.
BI financial technology office head Junanto Herdiawan said BI would create a regulatory sandbox. This would be a laboratory that BI would use to test fintech products and business models.
Through the laboratory, BI could supervise startups in the fintech sector. BI would assess innovations and benefit to the public and the chance of broad implementation.
“In the regulatory sandbox, startup companies will be assessed according to BI criteria and requirements. One of these is prioritizing consumer and investor protection,” he said.
OJK IA strategic management deputy commissioner Imansyah said the OJK had issued regulations on fintech loan services.
The OJK had also setup a taskforce dealing with financial and digital economy innovation development. The OJK would also accompany, evaluate and supervise fintech startups.
“To protect investors, the OJK requires fintech companies to make databases and risk profiles of would-be debtors. Meanwhile, to protect consumers, the OJK requires fintech companies to provide temporary and virtual accounts,” he said.
