Bank Jakarta and IDX Push for Transformation and Quality Amid Economic Dynamics

Jakarta – Kartininews.com: Indonesia’s national financial industry is still considered to have strong fundamentals despite various global economic challenges. However, changes in the business landscape and market behavior mean industry players must undergo transformation to remain relevant and achieve sustainable growth.

Bank Jakarta President Director Agus H. Widodo stated that, fundamentally, the national banking sector remains in good condition. This is reflected in positive credit growth, strong capitalization, maintained liquidity, and a relatively low non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.

"The real issue is not the fundamentals, but the playing field has changed," Agus said during the discussion titled "Shaping the Next Era of Indonesia's Capital Market" at Investor Day 2026, held at the Indonesia Stock Exchange Building in Jakarta on Tuesday (30/6/2026).

According to him, in recent years the banking industry has faced various hard-to-predict dynamics, ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, global geopolitical conflicts, to changes in international trade policies. These conditions mean banks can no longer run their business strategies on a "business as usual" basis.

Agus also highlighted pressure on banking funding costs (cost of funds). He noted that deposit interest rates in interbank money market auctions had reached 11.5 percent, signaling rising costs of raising funds for the banking industry.

In response to these changes, Bank Jakarta is implementing transformation across various aspects of its business — from strengthening its business model, digitalizing services, risk management, to corporate culture.

As a bank whose majority shares are owned by the Jakarta Provincial Government, Bank Jakarta is focusing its business development on strengthening the regional government ecosystem.

Agus mentioned that the budget circulation within the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has significant potential that can become a source of sustainable business growth for the company.

In addition, Bank Jakarta is accelerating comprehensive digital transformation, including technology infrastructure upgrades, application development, and improving human resource competencies.

On the other hand, strengthening risk management is also a top priority. According to Agus, the risks facing the banking industry are no longer limited to credit risk but are becoming increasingly multidimensional, including cyber security threats.

"Future risks will be increasingly multidimensional," he said.

IDX Encourages Quality Investors

On the same occasion, Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) Director of Development Jeffry Hendrik emphasized the importance of strengthening investor quality to support the deepening of Indonesia’s capital market.

According to Jeffry, together with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and self-regulatory organizations (SROs), the IDX continues to promote improved market transparency, more granular investor data, market deepening, and greater public information disclosure.

"We believe that with better transparency, there will certainly be higher trust," Jeffry said.

He revealed that the number of domestic investors has now surpassed 28 million. However, the increase in the number of investors must be accompanied by an improvement in quality so they can form a strong foundation for the national capital market.

Jeffry stressed that the capital market needs investors with adequate investment literacy and understanding. Investors must also understand their own risk profiles and not merely follow market trends.

"They should be able to conduct analysis, not just follow what influencers say, and avoid FOMO," he said.

This message aligns with the strategy being implemented by Bank Jakarta in facing current economic dynamics. Agus said the company is no longer chasing growth for its own sake, but is prioritizing healthy and quality growth.

"We are not racing to chase big growth; what we are pursuing is healthy and quality growth," Agus said.

Both the banking sector and the capital market believe that quality will be the determining factor in maintaining the resilience of the financial industry going forward. Digital transformation, strengthened governance, transparency, and improved financial literacy are seen as important foundations for facing increasingly rapid and complex changes.