Jakarta, May 10, 2017 — Indonesia's financial inclusion programs, which are run by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) together with a number of ministries and agencies, won the Global Inclusion Award 2017 after beating similar programs from other countries in Asia and the Pacific region.

"Financial inclusion has become international programs and the OJK in partnership with ministries and agencies were seen to have implemented financial inclusion programs well, in accordance with goals to be achieved," OJK Commissioner Muliaman D Hadad said on Wednesday, in Jakarta.  

Indonesia was named as Global Inclusion Award 2017 winner for Asia and the Pacific Region. The award was presented by the Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) and G20 countries, in collaboration with the Government of Germany—host of the G20 summit in 2017.

For this award, Indonesia defeated India and Pakistan in the final assessment phase for Asia and the Pacific Region. An OJK representative received the placard and certificate at the award event that took place in Berlin, Germany, on May 3, 2017.

The competition's jury members considered that Indonesia had demonstrated a strong commitment to raising the public's financial literacy and inclusion, which was manifested in various efforts to achieve the 75-percent financial inclusion target by 2019 and the two-percent annual increase in financial literacy.

The judges believed that the country's financial inclusion programs had three successful aspects, as follows:

1. Indonesia has developed financial literacy and inclusion strategies based on different approaches that took into accounts the following factors: priority goals (tailor-made framework), a program's life cycle, geographical areas (urban-rural outreach), and potentially high-impact demographics for the increase of financial literacy and inclusion
2. Indonesia has built positive synergy for the implementation of the National Strategy on Financial Inclusion (SNKI) and the National Strategy on Indonesian Financial Literacy (SNLKI). The synergy came from the cooperation between the OJK and ministries/agencies and related stakeholders, including the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Bank Indonesia, and the financial services industry, universities, schools, and non-governmental organizations.
3. Indonesia has made sure the financial inclusion programs that it carries out will bring wide, measurable, and sustainable impacts.

Concerning regulations and strategies, since it was founded in 2013, the OJK has encouraged the financial services industry and related parties to adopt various measures to attain higher financial literacy and inclusion, by introducing OJK Regulation No. 76/POJK.07/2016 on Raising Financial Literacy and Inclusion, which reinforces implementation of previous regulations and policies issued through OJK Regulation No. 01/POJK.07/2013 concerning Consumer Protection in the Financial Services Sector and the National Strategy on Indonesian Financial Literacy.

The OJK together with the financial services industry and other stakeholders have implemented a range of initiatives on financial education and literacy, especially for children and youth. They include composition and development of financial literacy materials for formal educational institutions, from elementary (SD), junior high (SMP), senior high schools (SMA), to universities. Materials for senior high schools have been integrated into national curriculum, and training of trainers has been organized to build capacity of SD, SMP, and SMA teachers and college lecturers, for teaching about financial literacy.

In addition, financial literacy materials have been composed, developed, and disseminated through various forms of informal financial education provided to different communities—including children and youth—in many areas in Indonesia.

In terms of financial inclusion, the country has made several efforts, including the launch of student savings accounts (Simpel/SimPel iB) that are targeted at students, Let's Save campaign, and implementation of minibank programs at schools.

The 2016 OJK National Survey on Financial Literacy and Inclusion recorded that the financial literacy and inclusion indices stood at 29.7 percent and 67.8 percent respectively. Those figures were higher compared with results from the previous survey in 2013, which saw the indices reach 21.8 percent and 59.7 percent respectively.

The OJK will develop and continue its financial inclusion programs and policies, by organizing more activities on financial education and literacy and consumer protection.

"This award proves that programs and policies related to consumer education and protection have been implemented towards the expected direction. Thus, we are confident that the government's goal to see financial inclusion reach 75 percent by 2019 will be achieved," OJK Commissioner for Consumer Education and Protection Kusumaningtuti S Setiono said.

The Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), which organized the Awards event, is a global network that is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and focused on building the financial capacity of youth and children. The network was founded with a mission to facilitate financial inclusion and education for children and youth worldwide and seek to transform them into financially-empowered citizens. Today, CYFI programs have reached 36 million children and youth all over the world.

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For more information:

Agus Sugiarto, Head of Financial Literacy and Inclusion Department

Tel: +62 21 2960 0000 or 1500655, E-mail: agus.sugiarto@ojk.go.id  www.ojk.go.id