Indonesia’s fintech startups are escalating as the economy starts to gain more momentum after the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumer spending along with manufacturing activity are seeing a consistent increase since the recovery in jobs, incomes, and confidence. Especially investment is receiving benefits from increasing demand and improvements in business climate.

With roughly 200 million internet users and a highly tech savvy population, Indonesia is full of fintech potential.

Indonesia is home to many fast-growing fintech startups such as Gojek, Xendit, Akulaku, Pintu and FinAccel. As innovation continues to push new product development, new participants continue to enter the fintech market.

Close the financial gap

P2P Lending platforms for example Alami and KoinWorks provided transparency and credit scoring engines from business’ performance, financial and credit history. They offer invoice financing and supply chain financing for SMEs by applying such insights. At the same time, fintechs like Meraki help lower the barriers to financial inclusion by using data in their product features, enabling them to facilitate low-interest lending by leveraging payroll disbursement as collateral.

As a whole, the fintech sector brings Indonesia solutions to narrow the financial access gap and raise inclusion. It also accelerated the financial inclusion of investment.

Cash to cashless

Just a few years ago, over 99% of transactions in Indonesia were in cash. However, the emergence of fintech startups has enabled the increase in popularity of cashless transaction. Moreover, a positive growth regarding transaction value for the industry in Indonesia has been recorded. According to Statista, the country’s total transaction value in the digital payments segment alone is expected to reach US$72.09bn in 2022.

With the growing usage of e-money products, the number of bank transfer and online transations is only increasing in Indonesia, aiming for a cashless society in the years to come. Nevertheless, the preferred payment method remains cash.

Fintech challenges

One key challenge for fintech in Indonesia is the acceptance of cashless payment. Digital payment options are not yet widely available at merchants. Additionally, the extra percentage to pay for each transaction creates further hesitation for buyers to switch.

Another concern for the country’s fintech sector is the seemingly slow and ambiguous process of regulations. This holds back the confidence of not only fintech startups but also investors across Indonesia.

It is clear that government needs to take actions to improve regulatory requirements and ensure a better environment for fintech businesses to grow.

Nonetheless, fintech opportunities are boundless given that financial transactions stand between nearly every single exchange between businesses or consumers.