Government to Regulate Non-Bank Money Transfers

Watch out people, following the amazing growth of Indonesian e-commerce, the government is starting to tinker with the regulations. This time, the government want to rule the money transfers between non-banking institutions, services like PayPal, KasPay, Doku, and basically all carrier/telco companies, these guys would have to get government approval for doing such transactions.

Government officials said this regulation is made to protect banks and also consumer but I honestly don't see the point for protecting the consumer. Banks would definitely appreciate this effort from government, and of course giving out licenses puts the government in a very strategic position in the whole problematic and troublesome e-commerce ecosystem.

I'm not gonna get all sarcastic with the evident corruption and all, I'll let someone else deal with that.

One thing for sure, every online transaction will be done via banks or companies with licenses which is a bit annoying but not exactly lethal for the industry but rather as a pre-caution before anything goes wrong. The government can also verify the transactions and terms in order to protect both parties involved in an online transaction.

Punishment for disobeying such regulation is 3 years imprisonment or IDR 3bn fine. Seriously, if you have the money you might as well apply for the license. So far, government officials said 70 non-banking companies are now licensed to do such transactions and that this regulation will be socialized within the next 2 years before they start putting e-commerce businessmen in prison.

I think this is a bit annoying and pointless but as a good, non-sarcastic citizen, I'll see it as a pre-caution for the very young and fast-growing e-commerce industry to be standardized and well-regulated. Generally speaking, this regulation ,if well executed, can help protect the e-commerce industry in Indonesia for potential chaotic ecosystem.

If you want to support this regulation or just being sarcastic, do let us know in the comments, would love to hear it!

NOTE : You can view the Indonesian version of the complete regulation here