Dormant Account Freeze Evidence Of Indonesia's Banking System Weak

Photo: Special

JAKARTA Lecturer at Andalas University's Department of Economics, Syafruddin Karimi said the freezing of 31 million accounts that were inactive for a certain period of time ordomant by the Financial Analysis and Transaction Report Center (PPATK) showed the weakness of the banking system in Indonesia.

The embedding of 31 million domestic accounts worth IDR 6 trillion is a bright reflection of the weakness of the national banking system. This drastic action does not occur in vacuum," he said, Sunday, August 3, 2025.

He considered that the account suspension occurred because the account management system did not have an early warning mechanism, did not have an effective customer data consolidation system, and failed to build a strong digital financial literacy culture in the community.

The reason is, banks should not allow passive accounts to settle for years without proactive efforts to contact their owners or close them administratively.

In addition, the assumption that accounts are fraudulent or without active transactions will be used online gambling further indicates that the banking system in Indonesia lacks good control.

"When these passive accounts are finally used as 'parking zones' for illegal transactions such as online gambling, money laundering, to the circulation of narcotics funds, the responsibility is not only to the owner of accounts or criminals, but also to the weak systemic control of financial institutions," explained Syafruddin.

Meski mengapresiasi langkah cepat PPATK untuk mencegah transaksi judi online dengan cara pemblokiran akun bank tidak terpakai atau dormant, dia menganggap langkah tersebut kurang cermat karena hanya bersifat reaktif.

“PPATK bertindak cepat, tetapi ini sifatnya reaktif. Pembekuan semestinya tidak perlu terjadi bila perbankan kita punya sistem analitik transaksional yang canggih dan sistem data nasabah yang terintegrasi secara nasional,” tegas Syafruddin.

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Although he appreciated PPATK's quick steps to prevent online gambling transactions by blocking unused bank accounts or dormants, he considered the move to be less careful because it was only reactive.

"PPATK acts quickly, but this is reactive in nature. Freeze shouldn't have to happen if our banks have a sophisticated transactional analytic system and a nationally integrated customer data system," said Syafruddin.