The world’s economy has now entered a new phase, one of which is good banking practices in providing financial services to the public using digital mode. The Covid-19 pandemic has also created virtual community living spaces (such as Metaverse) and accelerated Indonesia’s digital financial inclusion to a new level.
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of economic growth in Indonesia, are still facing challenges in access to financial services, digital readiness, and access to markets. This condition is further exacerbated by the pandemic that limits direct interactions, activities, and transactions.
BPD and BPR are financial institutions that provide access to funding for MSME actors. Regional Development Bank (Bank Pembangunan Daerah/BPD) and Rural Bank (Bank Perkreditan Rakyat/BPR) have served local governments and local civil servants, as well as MSMEs and local communities. However, to compete with fintech and commercial banks, BPRs need to adopt digital financial services.
As a strategic move, the International Labour Organization (ILO) together with the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan/OJK) initiated the project “Mapping Digital Financial Services in Indonesia” which aims to map the conditions of providing digital financial services provided by BPD and BPR comprehensively. DEFINIT as a research institution that has a long interest and experience in the study and development of MSMEs, is trusted to carry out the study with the hope that the results of this study can be used as one of the policy recommendations for the Indonesian government to develop digital financial services that can be adapted by BPD and BPR .
In carrying out this study, DEFINIT uses an effective methodology and involves various parties in order to obtain comprehensive information, so that the resulting recommendation points can be used as a basis for decision making by the Indonesian government. The report of the study has been released in Indonesian version, and publicly available that can be accessed through the link below Mapping of Digital Financial Services in Indonesia.
DEFINIT also has experience in similar mapping studies, namely the study of mapping the condition of micro insurance in Indonesia together with The Microinsurance Network in 2021. The results of the study can be accessed publicly via the following link The Landscape of Microinsurance 2021. The study focuses on mapping the condition of micro-insurance in Indonesia and the distribution channels that are accessible to the community and micro-SMEs in the hope that they can reach more and provide wider protection for micro-enterprises in Indonesia.
DEFINIT has high agility in giving impact to the community, various suggestions and new opportunities for development and efforts to moderate MSMEs or on other topics, can be communicated with the DEFINIT team via the following link Contact Us.