OJK Has Blocked 4,921 Accounts Related To Online Gambling

Chairman of the OJK DK Mahendra Siregar (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) revealed that it had blocked 4,921 accounts suspected of being involved in online gambling activities.

The OJK Board of Commissioners Mahendra Siregar said that this step to block accounts was an effort to eradicate online gambling activities in order to maintain the stability of the financial services sector.

In addition, Mahendra conveyed that related to the eradication of online gambling which had a broad impact on the economy and financial sector, this step was also included in supporting the online gambling task force which was recently formed by President Joko Widodo, led by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Hadi Tjahjanto.

"We blocked 4,921 accounts from the data we received from the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo)," Mahendra explained at a press conference on the results of the OJK Board of Commissioners Meeting in May 2024, Monday, June 10.

Mahendra conveyed and related to banks by asking banks to also actively work on customer identification files.

"OJK has instructed banks to verify, identify, and Enhance Due Dilligency (EDD) including tracing and profiling of the list of names of account owners who are indicated to have made transactions related to online gambling," he said.

From all identified and blocking accounts, OJK will then include a list of customer accounts related to online gambling transactions into the Anti-Money Laundering and Prevention Information System for Terrorism Financing (SIGAP), so that it can be accessed by all financial service institutions and narrow the space for online gamblers to move and overcome asymmetric information in the financial services sector.

Mahendra conveyed that preventive efforts were also carried out in terms of public education related to online gambling and asked the financial services industry to proactively identify and verify accounts with suspicious transactions including online gambling activities.

In an effort to block online gambling accounts, OJK already has strong regulations. Referring to Article 36A paragraph (1) letter c, number 33 in Article 14 and Article 52 paragraph (4) letter c number 42 in Article 15 of Law Number 4 of 2023 concerning Financial Sector Development and Strengthening (UPU PPSK), in the context of carrying out surveillance tasks, OJK has the authority to order banks to block certain accounts.

To continue to strengthen the integrity of the financial services sector, on June 14, 2023, the OJK has also issued OJK Regulation (POJK) Number 8 of 2023 concerning the Implementation of Anti Money Laundering Programs, Prevention of Terrorism Financing, and Prevention of Funding for Mass Destruction Weapons Proliferation in the Financial Services Sector (POJK APU-PPT) which is proof of OJK's commitment to maintaining the integrity of the financial services sector.