Thousands Of Loan Accounts And Online Gambling Blocked, OJK: This Is A Minimization Effort And Limits The Action Room Of The Perpetrators

JAKARTA - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) continues to enforce law in the banking sector and has ordered banks to block identified accounts from being used for illegal activities.

OJK Banking Supervision Chief Executive Dian Ediana Rae said that his party had asked banks to block more than 85 accounts suspected of being related to illegal online loans (pinjol) and more than 4,000 accounts allegedly related to online gambling as of September 2023.

"Since September 2023, OJK has asked banks to block more than 85 accounts suspected of being related to illegal online loans and more than 4,000 accounts allegedly related to online gambling," he said in a virtual press conference at the OJK Board of Commissioners Meeting, Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

This is an effort to minimize and limit the space for actors to move through the banking system.

OJK also asked banks to increase customer due diligence (CDD) and enhanced due diligence (EDD).

Dian added this to identify customers or prospective customers who are included in the online gambling list or other criminal acts through banks.

In addition, the Bank is also asked to develop a system that is able to profile online gambling behavior so that it can recognize online gambling activities early and block them independently.

" Account information allegedly related to online gambling and technical blocking of accounts is carried out through coordination with related ministries/institutions, including the Ministry of Communication and Information and the banking industry," said Dian.

Meanwhile, in terms of eradicating illegal financial activities throughout 2023, the OJK together with the Illegal Financial Activity Eradication Task Force (Satgas PASTI) have suspended 2,288 illegal financial entities consisting of 40 illegal investments and 2,248 illegal loans.

In the same period, OJK admitted to receiving 9,380 complaints from illegal entities, including 8,991 complaints from illegal loans, and 388 complaints from illegal investments, with the development of the number of illegal entities that have been terminated/blocked.

"If we add up from 2017 to 2023 there are already 8,149 illegal entities that have been stopped/blocked by the OJK and the DEFINITE Task Force," said Chief Executive of the Behavior Supervisory of Financial Services Business Actors, Education and Consumer Protection OJK Friderica Widyasari Dewi.