Bank Jakarta and IDX Champion Transformation and Quality Amid Economic Challenges

JAKARTA – Indonesia's financial industry continues to demonstrate strong fundamentals despite ongoing global economic challenges. However, shifting business dynamics and changing market behavior require industry players to transform in order to remain relevant and achieve sustainable growth.

Bank Jakarta President Director Agus H. Widodo stated that Indonesia's banking sector remains fundamentally sound. This is reflected in continued positive credit growth, strong capital adequacy, healthy liquidity, and a relatively low non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.

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

According to Agus, the banking industry has faced increasingly unpredictable challenges in recent years, ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic and global geopolitical conflicts to changes in international trade policies. These developments have made it impossible for banks to continue operating under a business-as-usual approach.

Agus also highlighted the growing pressure on banks' cost of funds. He noted that deposit interest rates in interbank funding auctions had reached as high as 11.5 percent, signaling rising funding costs across the banking industry.

In response to these changes, Bank Jakarta has implemented a comprehensive business transformation strategy covering business model enhancement, service digitalization, risk management, and corporate culture.

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

Agus explained that the circulation of the Jakarta Provincial Government's budget presents significant opportunities to become a sustainable source of business growth for the bank.

In addition, Bank Jakarta is accelerating its end-to-end digital transformation by modernizing its technology infrastructure, enhancing digital applications, and improving the capabilities of its human resources.

At the same time, strengthening risk management has become a top priority. Agus noted that the risks facing the banking industry are no longer limited to credit risk but have become increasingly multidimensional, including cybersecurity threats.

"The risks we face in the future will become increasingly multidimensional," he said.

IDX Promotes Higher-Quality Investors

During the same event, Jeffry Hendrik, Director of Business Development at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), emphasized the importance of improving investor quality to support the continued development of Indonesia's capital market.

According to Jeffry, together with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Indonesia's self-regulatory organizations (SROs), the IDX continues to promote greater market transparency, more granular investor data, deeper capital market development, and stronger public disclosure.

"We believe that greater transparency will naturally lead to higher levels of trust," Jeffry said.

He revealed that the number of domestic investors has now surpassed 28 million. However, he stressed that increasing the number of investors must be accompanied by improving investor quality in order to establish a strong foundation for Indonesia's capital market.

Jeffry emphasized that the capital market requires investors who possess adequate financial literacy and investment knowledge. Investors should also understand their individual risk profiles rather than simply following market trends.

"Investors need to be able to conduct their own analysis instead of simply following influencers or giving in to FOMO (fear of missing out)," he said.

This message aligns closely with Bank Jakarta's strategy in navigating today's economic environment. Agus explained that the bank is no longer focused solely on pursuing rapid growth but is instead prioritizing healthy and sustainable growth.

"We're not racing to achieve the biggest growth. What we're pursuing is healthy, high-quality growth," Agus said.

Both the banking sector and the capital market agree that quality will be the defining factor in maintaining the resilience of Indonesia's financial industry in the years ahead. Digital transformation, stronger governance, greater transparency, and improved financial literacy are viewed as essential foundations for responding to an increasingly fast-changing and complex environment.

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