Indonesia Legal Frameworks on Electronic Money Issuance

On 4 May 2018, Bank Indonesia (“BI”) issued BI Regulation No. 20/6/2018 regarding Electronic Money (“PBI 20/18”). This regulation replaces the previous BI regulations on the same subject;

  1. PBI 11/12/PBI/2009;
  2. PBI 16/18/PBI/2014, and
  3. PBI 18/17/PBI/2016.

The following are some of the essential provisions introduced by PBI 20/18:

E-money issuer license application: PBI 20/18 provides that a company may apply for e-money issuer license directly to BI, without firstly obtaining a business license from the Online Single Submission (OSS).

Foreign ownership limitation: PBI 20/18 expressed that maximum foreign ownership – either directly or indirectly – in an e-money issuer company is 49 %. During the licensing application process, BI will assess the ownership of the e-money issuer company up to the ultimate shareholder level.

Fit and proper test requirements: Any controlling shareholder (i.e shareholder who owns a shareholding of at least 25 % in the e-money issuer company, or, any shareholder who owns less than 25 % shareholding but has direct/indirect control over the e-money issuer company), director and commissioner of the e-money issuer company is subject to fit and proper test conducted by BI.

Change of control restriction: PBI 20/18 restricts any change of control of the e-money issuer company within 5 (five) years since the issuance of the e-money issuer license. Nevertheless, in certain conditions, such restriction may be waived with prior approval from BI.

Minimum capital requirements: An e-money issuer company is required to have its issued and paid-up capital of at least IDR 3,000,000,000 (around USD 205,000). The company is also required to increase its issued and paid-up capital depending on the increase of the float funds it manages.

We believe that BI will be issuing the implementing regulations for this PBI 20/18 to replace the existing BI circular letter(s) on e-money. I assume that BI will process the new licensing applications after the issuance of the implementing regulations of PBI 20/18.

The article above was prepared by Marshall S. Situmorang (Partner).

Disclaimer: The information herein is of general nature and should not be treated as legal advice, nor shall it be relied upon by any party for any circumstance. Specific legal advice should be sought by interested parties to address their particular circumstances. For more information, please contact us at mail@nusantaralegal.com.