02 Nov 2021
Bank Indonesia Issues New Regulation to Boost Quality of Customer Services

In early September, the central bank, Bank Indonesia (“BI”), issued a new regulation (“PBI 23/2021”[1]) to deliver more easily accessible and better integrated services to its customers.

BI customers include the Ministry of Finance, other central government institutions; local governments; non-bank state-owned enterprises; international financial institutions; foreign central banks; commercial banks; clearing and/or settlement institutions; depository and settlement institutions; securities companies; the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK); the Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS); brokerage companies that operate in the money and foreign exchange markets; non-bank payment service providers engaged in remittance services provision, etc.

A. BI Services

In essence, PBI 23/2021 differentiates between 2 types of BI service:

1. Central Bank Services

2. Membership Services

We will now discuss each of these in greater detail.

1. Central Bank Services

These services are provided by BI to customers in order to support it in fulfilling its monetary and macro-prudential responsibilities, and in relation to payment-system and rupiah money management (Central Bank Services / “CBS”). These are further subdivided into 4 categories:

1. BI Giro Accounts, including savings and withdrawal through accounts in BI (note: a “giro” account is a demand deposit);
2. Letters of Credit (L/Cs) -- transactional services related to the importation of strategic goods or services in the national interest, including in relation to infrastructure development, national defence and security, and government operations;
3. Sub-Registry Services – used for the administration of state securities (surat berharga negara) and for other BI approved purposes; and
4. Miscellaneous central bank services.

2. Membership Services

BI also provides customer and data management services in relation to its financial market infrastructure and payments system. These are known as Membership Services / “MS” (as customers are essentially required to register as members before they can access the services).

MS involve the management of member data, which comprises a member’s name, address, the name of its principal or proxy/attorney, specimen signatures, and other member data. MS are provided through the following BI systems:

1. Bank Indonesia - Electronic Trading Platform System (BI-ETP System) for electronic transactions;
2. Bank Indonesia - Scripless Securities Settlement System (BI-SSSS), for administering transactions and securities electronically;
3. Bank Indonesia – Real Time Gross Settlement System (BI-RTGS), electronic fund transfer, with real-time settlement per individual transaction;
4. Bank Indonesia - National Clearing System, for fund transfers and scheduled electronic fund transfers, debit mandates (warkat debit), regular payment services, and regular billing services; and
5. Miscellaneous BI systems.

B. Customer Criteria

To be able to access CBS or MS, customers must satisfy the following criteria:

1. They are required by law to be registered as customers (such as commercial banks and the Ministry of Finance); and/or
2. The customer’s activities (i) must be related to BI's responsibilities for monetary, macroprudential, payment-system and money management, (ii) must involve international cooperation (bilateral, regional, or multilateral) with BI, and/or (iii) must relate to BI’s duties and functions.

C. BI Services Platform

PBI 23/2021 requires BI to provide a secure online platform (the BI Services Application / “BISA”) to be used by customers when accessing services or changing profile information. This will be a new centralized system that should help to make things significantly more straightforward for customers when accessing services.

D. ABNR Commentary

PBI 23/2021 is aimed at strengthening the effectiveness and accessibility of BI’s customer management and customer business services. The introduction of BISA, in particular, should go quite a way towards achieving this goal. Of course, as is only to be expected of a prudential regulation authority, BI is quite demanding when it comes to the information that should be provided and criteria that must be fulfilled by customers when accessing services. Unfortunately, however, “demanding” can sometimes verge on “unnecessarily onerous” if every effort is not made to eliminate superfluous requirements. It is to be hoped, therefore, that things will be kept as straightforward as possible so as to facilitate BI’s customers when using BISA.

Should you have any queries on this ABNR Legal Update or require legal advice on how you can best protect your interests, please email us at info@abnrlaw.com.

This ABNRNewsand its contents are intended solely to provide a general overview, for informational purposes, of selected recent developments in Indonesian law. They do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Accordingly, ABNR accepts no liability of any kind in respect of any statement, opinion, view, error, or omission that may be contained in this legal update. In all circumstances, you are strongly advised to consult a licensed Indonesian legal practitioner before taking any action that could adversely affect your rights and obligations under Indonesian law.