Indonesia taps capital markets veteran to boost confidence in struggling stock market

INDONESIA named capital markets veteran Jeffrey Hendrik as chief executive of its stock exchange, the latest effort to bolster investor confidence in the world’s worst-performing equity market.

Hendrik will serve a four-year term through 2030, according to the Indonesia Stock Exchange or IDX in a statement on Thursday (Jun 18). He will be formally appointed, alongside six other executives, at a shareholders’ meeting on Jun 29, the statement added.

“We will continue the capital reform that we have been carrying out over the last four months” to improve transparency, integrity and governance of the exchange, Hendrik said in a speech in Jakarta late on Thursday. “This is so that, in the future, we will be able to realise the potential of the IDX to become a world-class exchange.”

Hendrik has been serving as acting chief executive since February following the departure of former exchange head Iman Rachman and other exchange officials, amid concerns raised by MSCI’s warning of a possible downgrade to frontier-market status.

The new CEO will need to quickly address long-standing demands to ensure greater access to stocks and increase market transparency, chief among concerns raised by the MSCI.

Indonesian assets, including the rupiah, have endured a sustained rout on rising angst about President Prabowo Subianto’s interventionist economic agenda.

Indonesia’s benchmark stock index has fallen about 29 per cent this year — the worst performer among about 90 major indexes globally — as foreign investors sold equities. 

The rupiah’s slide has prompted the central bank to raise interest rates for a third time in about a month, with a 25-basis-point increase announced on Thursday. The rate hikes are also intended to boost sovereign bond yields and attract foreign capital inflows.

Investors are closely awaiting MSCI’s decision on whether to downgrade Indonesia. The possibility has cast a shadow over the country’s stock market for months, as it could trigger billions of dollars in outflows from passive index funds.

SEE ALSO

Bank Indonesia raises rates for the second time in eight days to defend rupiah

Asian currencies likely to stay under pressure as new Fed regime keeps rates steady

Indonesia central bank raises rates by 25 basis points

Bank Indonesia’s new mandate faces first market test after rate hike

More

Reform pledges

Regulators are fast-tracking reforms, including enhanced disclosure requirements, to address opaque ownership structures and weak transparency among some of Indonesia’s largest listed companies.

Authorities have identified several major companies with excessively concentrated ownership and have raised the minimum free-float requirement for listed firms to 15 per cent.

Hendrik, who has been with the exchange since 2022, will need to follow through on government pledges to revamp the platform and increase free float, particularly among companies controlled by the country’s billionaire families. 

Sovereign wealth fund Danantara has expressed interest in acquiring a significant stake as the government seeks to demutualise the bourse, which traces its origins to the Dutch colonial era.

Before joining the exchange as director of business development, Hendrik spent more than two decades at investment firms, including PT Transpacific Securindo — a local brokerage later acquired by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp — and PT Phintraco Sekuritas, where he served as chief executive officer. BLOOMBERG