OJK and Bank Fama Hold Financial Literacy to Help MSMEs Avoid Illegal Online Lending

Merdeka.com - Financial literacy of the Indonesian people is targeted to continue to increase, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This can affect the management strategy so that access to capital for business development can be maximized, as well as avoiding illegal moneylenders or online loan applications (Pinjol).

This became one of the discussions in the financial education held by Bank Fama International together with Regional Office (KR) 2 of the West Java Financial Services Authority (OJK), Friday (16/12). The event was attended by hundreds of members of the Community of Working Women Headed Households or (PEKKA).

"Financial literacy in general in Indonesia has increased, but more than half of the people do not know about financial literacy," said President Director of Bank Fama International, Tigor Siahaan.

Some of the obstacles faced by the community, especially MSMEs, are that they usually do not have good financial or management reports. That is why it is difficult for them to get loans for business development from banks.

"The problem in Indonesia is how MSMEs can get loans without relying on moneylenders and illegal loans," he said.

Therefore, education or seminars regarding finance will be one of the focuses of Bank Fama. According to him, members of PEKKA are a clear example that many people have the potential to advance in entrepreneurship to achieve family welfare.

Bank Fama also continues to develop digital services in an integrated manner with various parties, one of which is Emtek. This service is more focused on MSME actors.

"So in education and financial literacy we want to make people aware that banking is not just a loan, but the use of responsibility and what steps to take so that the business runs smoothly. We have an ecosystem from Emtek," he explained.

In the same place, Head of OJK Regional 2 West Java, Indarto Budiwitono explained that literacy levels in West Java are measured every three years. In 2019 the figure was at 37 percent. In 2020 it changed to 56 percent. This figure exceeds the literacy level in East Java, Central Java to DKI Jakarta.

OJK targets the financial literacy rate to reach 90 percent next year. One of them is conducting socialization and education with financial service industry players such as Bank Fama with various targets.

"Today PEKKA women need all of our attention. Later this will be followed up by providing loans with an adjusted pattern. If there is a team to accelerate access to regional finance, we usually collaborate with the financial services industry and MSMEs, including Bank Fama," he explained.

"Women at PEKKA are the backbone of the family. Now, talking about mothers, the problem of illegal voting, 18 percent of which is in the area of ​​the mothers. Hopefully periodically with educational activities, no one will get caught in loans ," he continued.

Optimism for Next Year's Banking Performance Predicted by a Recession

When asked about the predictions of the financial services industry's performance next year, which said there would be a global recession, Indarto said he remained optimistic. The reason is, since facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the performance of the financial services industry has been in a stable condition.

The indicatoris that credit growth until October YoY 2022 has grown 8.4 percent, third party funds are at 5.1 percent and Non Performing Loans (NPL) or non-performing loans are decreasing from 3.9 to 3.4 percent.

"This shows very good financial performance. Indeed, next year is full of uncertainties, but I have confidence that we already have a strong foundation related to banking, the financial services industry is stable and can contribute to the country," he concluded. 

The article was taken from Merdeka.com withOJK "and Bank Fama Hold Financial Literacy to Help MSMEs Avoid Loans". Click here for full article.

Friday, 16 December 2022 17:09
Reporter: Bebey Script