The COVID-19 Pandemic and Indonesia’s Fintech Markets

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the large-scale social distancing (PSBB) policy on Indonesia’s financial technology (fintech) markets. It also elaborates the roles that fintech companies can play in the national economic recovery.This paper finds that Indonesia’s fintech markets were relatively resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic did not have significant impacts on Indonesia’s fintech markets, but the PSBB harmed phone banking, mobile banking, and internet banking transaction values as well as peer-to-peer (P2P) fintech lending. Nevertheless, the PSBB increased electronic money transactions. The relatively short PSBB period prevented the restrictions on economic activities from imposing too much damage on the fintech markets.The Indonesian authorities involved the fintech industry as a component of the national economic recovery program (PEN), particularly the pre-employment card (Kartu Prakerja) program. There are still many areas in which the government can utilize the fintech industry for economic recovery, including direct cash transfers to poor households and extensions of subsidized loans for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).