UOB Indonesia: People Must Understand Financial Literacy To Avoid Fraudulent Investments

UOB Indonesia Head of Deposit & Wealth Management Vera Margaret. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - UOB Indonesia's Head of Deposit & Wealth Management Vera Margaret stated that the public must understand financial literacy in order to avoid fraudulent investments.

Although there was an increase in Single Investor Identification (SID) in the capital market from 2.48 million investors in 2019 to 10 million in November 2022, it was not accompanied by an increase in understanding of investment literacy.

"Based on data from the OJK (Financial Services Authority) in 2022, during the many-fold penetration of SID, but it turns out that investment literacy knowledge continues to decrease. That means something is wrong," he said in Media Gathering and Literacy "Preserve and Grow Your Wealth Through Risk-First Approach" at Teras Ramayana, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski, Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, March 31.

OJK data in 2022 notes that along with increased interest in investing, access to financial products in the capital market sector increased in 2022 to 5.19 percent from the previous 1.55 percent in 2019. However, financial literacy in the capital market sector decreased from 4.97 percent in 2019 to 4.11 percent in 2022.

With the increase in the number of SIDs, he continued, it should run in line with the increase in the number of financial literacy.

From those who study (financial literacy), maybe not all of them invest. The current situation is reversed, more investments than those who understand. Well, that's why fraudulent investments occur," said Vera.

In 2022, the Investment Alert Task Force (SWI) said Indonesia suffered losses due to fraudulent investments of IDR 109 trillion. Not to mention the case of fraudulent investment in the Indosurya Savings and Loans Cooperative (KSP) which cost customers IDR 106 trillion at the end of last year.

Therefore, people need to learn first before investing in any form.

For example, if you want to invest in gold, you have to learn what kind of gold movement you want, where to buy it, what kind of sale it is, what kind of institution you trust, what history it is like. Just like wanting to invest in mutual funds, it must be known how long the track record has been, who manages it, what the annual report has been like, the movement from month to month, whether the investment results are stable or not, (and so on,' he said.