OJK Invites Banks To Participate Actively In Combating Online Gambling

OJK involves banking to eradicate online gambling (ANTARA/Indra Arief Pribadi)

JAKARTA - The impact of rampant online gambling in Indonesia is troubling to various parties. On that basis, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) asked banks to participate in eradicating this activity.

One of the efforts proposed by the OJK is to build a system to track suspicious transactions.

"We continue to ask banks to build systems, in order to see such transactions (related to online gambling). Because the system must be built," said Deputy Chairman of the OJK Board of Commissioners Mirza Adityaswara at an FGD event with a mass media editor in Batam, Riau Islands Province, as reported by ANTARA, Sunday.

Mirza said online gambling activities are one of the activities that the public has complained about to OJK. The rise of online gambling activities has also often caught the attention of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"We also encourage the handling of complaints. You may also pay attention to the President's anxiety about seeing online gambling. Of course it is also a concern for all of us," Mirza said.

According to him, tracking activities on banking transactions related to online gambling are not easy. This is because the nominal transaction related to online gambling is not always of great value.

"The transaction may only be Rp. 100,000, Rp. 200 thousand, or Rp. 1 million. But how come you use that account, it is often used for tech. Because of that, the system must be built," said Mirza.

He gave an example that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) already has a system that is running for quite a long time, which requires banks to report if there are transactions above Rp500 million.

"If online gambling is not a transaction of Rp. 500 million, but small. So if we want to be able to trace it, you must have a system that can monitor strange movements in these small accounts. So, it must be built," he said.

According to OJK data, said Mirza, there have been around 5,000 accounts blocked because they were identified as being used for online gambling activities. He said the financial services industry would continue to strive to help eradicate online gambling.

"So, we have closed about 5,000 accounts, we are blocking them. Of course, efforts do not stop there, where should this fund be traced, "said Mirza.