Indonesia’s large unbanked population offers opportunities for Singapore fintech players

Serving the unbanked in Indonesia is fast becoming a top priority for the government and financial institutions in South-east Asia’s largest economy, given that there are some 90 million people in the country who do not have a bank account. There are another 45 million people who do own an account, but with little or no access to credit or investment products.

The size of the unbanked population makes it next to impossible for traditional banks to address this disparity on their own. Observers note that having such a large percentage of the adult population with no access to the financial sector is a huge challenge, given that they are the ones striving to avoid falling into the middle-income trap.

To help close this gap, this is where Indonesia’s fast-growing digital sector and its many fintech players can step in and make the most of the opportunities out there.