OJK Task Force Revokes 227 Illegal P2P Lending Platforms, Most of them Come from China

OJK Investment Alert Task Force revokes 227 companies p2p loans illegal operations in Indonesia because it is considered to endanger consumer protection and the potential for money laundering. More than half of these companies are from China, do not have a legal entity, and do not have an official office in Indonesia.

The revocation was carried out after holding two task force meetings on 19 February 2018 and 25 July 2018 for enforcement efforts, but most of these companies were not attended. Whereas in the meeting, OJK encouraged their obligations to be registered and licensed as organizers p2p loans in accordance with the POJK Number 77 of 2016.

As a result, OJK acted decisively by asking them to stop their business activities in Indonesia. Then the form of applications contained in Google Play, the App Store, and other social media to be deleted. The Task Force will also collaborate with various parties such as the Criminal Investigation Department for reporting information.

This includes asking Kominfo to block applications on websites and social media, as well as asking Google Indonesia management to block applications on Google Play. Not only that, the Task Force is exploring the possibility of asking banks to block accounts fintech p2p lending the illegal ones.

"We will regularly deliver company information fintech p2p lending unlicensed. In addition, community participation is very necessary, especially not to be a participant in the activities of these unlicensed entities," said Tongam L Tobing, Chairman of the Investment Alert Task Force, Friday (27/7).

According to Tongam, the existence of this illegal company is feared to be used for money laundering or terrorism financing. It could be that user data and information can be blamed, plus the potential for tax revenue does not exist because it is not registered as an official legal entity.

When broken down, these 227 companies were created by 155 developer. That is, it can be described as one developer can create two to three similar services for multi-user nets. Of course this can be detrimental to the community because the company has no obligation to protect user rights. If this is allowed, people may not believe in fintech p2p lending.

Unfortunately, because all of these companies are illegal, the Task Force cannot detect how big their business operations are in Indonesia. However, when viewed from several companies based on download numbers on Google Play, some have been downloaded by more than 100 thousand people but some are still zero.

From the list of illegal companies presented by OJK, several names of companies with high download rates according to monitoring DailySocial as AyoRupiah, Ayopop, Bee Cash, BosPinjaman, Cash Bon, Cashstore, DoctorUang, RpNow, Rupiah Kita, Rupiah Cow, Super Money, Pocket Money, We Cash, Flash Loans, Quick Loans, Quick Loans, Pipipi, Zidisha, and much more.

Chinese players looking for new land

The boom in Chinese players who are secretly looking for business opportunities in Indonesia, according to Tongam, is due to the tightening of regulations by the Chinese authorities. So that makes them suffocate, finally choosing to enter Indonesia, but illegally because it is seen as a country with high financial potential.

Whereas according to OJK regulations, there are freedoms given to foreign players. Foreign players may have a maximum of 85% share ownership and the remaining 15% are owned locally.

"They are allowed to enter Indonesia, as long as they comply with the existing rules. Not illegally, the office must be clear and be here, it should not be co-working space. Must have a legal entity PT or cooperative, administrators and servers must be here too."

To prevent the same thing from happening, Tongam also plans to ask Google to filter each application whether it has been registered and received permission from the OJK before appearing in public. He also asked the public to be selective before investing or seeking loans only from companies whose logos have been posted on the OJK website.

As for now there are 63 companies p2p loans already licensed and registered with the OJK. These names can be checked on the OJK website. Among them, Danamas, KoinWorks, Amartha, Investree, Modalku, Danacepat, AwanTunai, KlikACC and so on.