As a leading higher education institution in Indonesia, Perbanas Institute recently published an article titled, “Information Technology and the Realisation of Laku Pandai Programme to Support Inclusive Finance” written by one of its prominent lecturers, Dr. Harya Damar Widiputra. The publication within a well-known local newspaper – the Lampung Post – highlighted the important role of information technology (IT) within Indonesia’s banking industry. Perbanas Institute has long prioritised the advancement of technology and as such, incorporates a number of tech-savvy measures as part of its curricula.
Dr. Harya acknowledged an expected increase in branchless banking systems throughout Indonesia in keeping with the Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) effort of bringing about modern change for local banks. With the entire population having access to a mobile number, the OJK has immense opportunities to utilise this resource in order to increase public knowledge on financial literacy, particularly for regions of eastern Indonesia. Furthermore, greater national connectivity therefore provides the OJK as well as banks the platform to expand upon measures to ease the access to banking and financial services.
To support financial inclusion, Dr. Harya underlined the necessity of developing IT infrastructure to ensure the feasibility of OJK’s Laku Pandai programme. Providing convenience for banking and financial services is increasingly more feasible given the decrease in the price of cellular phones amongst local vendors. As such, Dr. Harya provided several suggestions for banking institutions including the creation of an integrated information technology system as a measure to realise the success of OJK’s Laku Pandai programme. Dr. Harya’s detailed piece in the Lampung Post demonstrates a high level of expertise that pinpoints the potential and challenges for the local banking industry as it moves forward in creating a technologically-enhanced sector.