Jakarta, Gizmology – Illegal investment platforms are increasingly troubling the public in Indonesia. One of them is binary options which have been banned by the government, but are still free to operate, at least before this issue surfaced.
“There was a lot of discussion related to illegal fintech, I took firm steps according to the mandate of the law and closed 5,429 illegal fintechs,” said Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G. Plate.
Minister of Communication and Information Johnny G. Plate emphasized that the institution he leads has three main tasks in dealing with illegal investment platforms such as binary options.
“First, carry out supervision starting from registration of electronic systems and compliance with the principles of personal data protection, Second, conformity of content on digital platforms with applicable laws and regulations, and third, facilitation of requests for termination of binary option platforms (which violate),” he explained.
Close access to illegal investments, including binary options
According to Johnny, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has received a request for closing access to binary options activities from the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency of the Ministry of Trade.
Throughout 2021, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics also closed access to 1,130 illegal futures brokerage content, illegal investments, illegal forex, including binary options content.
“To be exact, 489 illegal futures broker content, 332 illegal investment content, 312 illegal forex content and 92 binary options content. We both know that BAPPEBTI has determined it as an illegal activity after more than 1,221 accounts were blocked,” he said.
In fact, the government has also handled 5,429 illegal fintechs circulating through website platforms, the Google Play Store and YouTube applications, Facebook, Instagram, file sharing and Telegram.
The government also continues to develop an ecosystem and investment in the digital finance sector. The Ministry of Communication and Information together with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) improves public financial literacy as well as supervision of digital financial platforms.
Improve Digital Literacy
Minister Johnny stated that one of the steps taken by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics was the National Digital Literacy Movement Program (GNLD) to increase public literacy related to the capital market sector.
“I emphasize that literacy, which is currently still very small, needs to be encouraged, given that the government’s efforts to give special attention to encouraging national MSMEs and Ultra Micros to go digital onboarding,” said Minister Johny in the Webinar of the Indonesian Capital Market Investor Association: Investing and Trading Summit. , virtually from the official residence, South Jakarta, Friday (18/02/2022) .
Citing the results of the 2021 Financial Literacy and Inclusion National Survey conducted by the OJK, the Minister of Communication and Information stated that the National Financial Literacy Index continues to increase from year to year.
“In 2013, the presentation was around 21.8. Then, that number increased to 29.7% in 2016 and continued to increase in 2019 reaching 38.3%. In 2013, the Capital Market Sector Literacy Index was still around 3.79%, in 2016 it was 4.4%, while in 2019 it increased by 4.92%,” he said.
With the trend continuing to be positive, Minister Johnny hopes that Indonesia can continue to increase the number of financial literacy, use financial technology (fintech) and provide wider access for anyone to invest.
“GNLD is also intended to enable the public to digest the information on the internet. This includes, of course, choosing the right fintech platform to invest in,” he said.
Digital Indonesia Roadmap 2021-2024
The Minister of Communication and Information stated that the Government has compiled a Digital Indonesia Roadmap for 2021-2024 as a guide for the digital transformation of the Indonesian nation. The roadmap is divided into four sectors, namely digital infrastructure, digital government, digital economy, and digital society.
“In these four roadmaps, there are the first 100 initiatives implemented in 10 priority sectors including the financial services sector. Some examples of key initiatives in the financial services sector, such as expanding local start-up development programs, developing joint venture-based funding instruments for MSMEs, Ultra Micro, and start-ups; as well as implementing a national credit score system to improve credit access, especially financing the adoption of digital technology,” he explained.
According to Minister Johnny, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises have great potential to take part in capital market activities. “MSMEs support 60% of the national GDP, so through this program we, Kominfo, will provide them with capacity building and performance,” he said.
By 2022, the GNLD Program targets to be literate around 5.5 million participants. Previously, in 2021, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics succeeded in capturing as many as 12.5 million participants in the same program.
“We hope that by 2024 we can reach 50 million people in all corners of the country. This is also a big potential for capital market investors,” hoped the Minister of Communication and Informatics.
Through the GNLD Program, Minister Johnny explained the theme of digital investment and the introduction of the fintech world will also be introduced concretely. According to him, it is important to do this to coincide with efforts to handle the development of fintech platforms that have the potential to harm the community.
“Concretely, the theme includes the introduction of the world of non-fungible tokens and blockchain which was carried out this year. Learn to invest using digital platforms, it’s safe and comfortable to invest digitally, as well as fight fake fintech and illegal investments,” he said.
Minister Johnny encouraged capital market players to take advantage of digital technology amidst the dynamics of Indonesia which continues to transform digitally. According to him, various digital technologies come with benefits that are relevant to various use cases in the capital market.
“Such as blockchain technology to increase efficiency and trust for stakeholders, the collection of new digital assets such as cryptocurrencies in the form of coins and tokens is supported by tangible and purely speculative assets, to non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the digital space such as the metaverse. This needs to be anticipated properly so that the capital market continues to grow and is relevant in participating in providing economic values for our nation,” he said.
Through the use of digital technology, the Minister of Communication and Information hopes that joint efforts to create a more inclusive economy will be achieved, especially in encouraging MSMEs and Ultra Micro to enter the digital economy.
“We hope that the economic growth of Ultra Micro and Small Medium Enterprises will provide new impetus and fresh blood for new investors in the capital market sector. And take part in the digital economy (digitally onboarding) and scale up,” he concluded.
The Indonesian version of this article can be read in Gizmologi.ID
