Consumer Protection Needs To Be A Top Priority For PUJK

President Director of the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI) Heru Kristiyana. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Director of the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI) Heru Kristiyana said consumer protection needs to be a top priority for financial service business actors (PUJK) to grow public trust.

"After the issuance of the P2SK Law (Development and Strengthening of the Financial Sector) and POJK (Financial Services Authority Regulation) Number 6 of 2022 concerning Consumer and Community Protection in the Financial Services Sector, all financial services actors are required to carry out market contracts, and of course education to improve consumer ability to choose services in the financial services sector," he said, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, November 11.

This education also aims to grow the financial literacy index so that consumers are not trapped in products that have the potential to harm the community.

Based on the 2022 National Literacy and Financial Inclusion Survey (SNLIK), the Indonesian people's financial literacy index is around 49.56 percent, an increase compared to 2019 which was 38.03 percent.

Meanwhile, the financial inclusion index in 2022 reached 85.10 percent, an increase compared to 2019 of 76.19 percent.

This figure shows that the gap between literacy rate and inclusion rate has decreased from 38.16 percent in 2019 to 35.54 percent in 2022.

The results of the 2022 SNLIK level also show that banks are still the prima donna of the community to save funds.

It was noted that the financial inclusion of the banking sector reached 74.03 percent, while the level of financial inclusion in other financial services sectors reached 20 percent each. Other financial services include capital markets, pawnshops, and pension funds.

The achievement of the level of financial inclusion in the banking sector has made the nominal number of people's savings in banks also grow.

Based on the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS), there are funds of around Rp. 8,086 trillion deposited in commercial banks as of June 2023 or increased from year to year over the past 4 years.

The increase in deposit funds is in line with the growth in the number of banking accounts. We also note that in mid-2023, the number of customer accounts reached 520.8 million accounts or jumped twice that of 2019. This increase is actually inseparable from people's trust in banks," said Heru.

On the other hand, there was a decrease in insurance premiums in 2023 by 9.81 percent year on year (yoy) as of March with a value of IDR 44.84 trillion from the previous year reaching IDR 49.72 trillion.

He hopes that this decline will not reduce public confidence in related institutions.

"We will certainly try to maximize our literacy and financial inclusion so that public trust in our entire financial services industry from year to year increases. For this reason, OJK as the supervision of the market conduct, of course, its role must also be expected by the community to continue to literate and increase financial inclusion in our society," said the Director of LPPI.