We live in an era of rapid technological growth, with every aspect of life becoming just that little bit more accessible and convenient than they have ever been before. Examples of our modern technological paradigm can be seen all around us, from face-to-face telecommunications to transportation services which don’t actually own a single vehicle just a simple click away. Indeed, these rapid technological advances now encompass almost every area of the global economy, including the financial sector. The intersection between these two worlds, namely technology and the financial sector, is commonly termed “Fintech”.[1]
 
The Fintech industry has already demonstrated tremendous market potential. Indeed, based on the results of research undertaken by well-known information-technology consultant Accenture, global investment in the Fintech industry exploded from USD 9.6 billion in 2015 to USD 22.3 billion in 2016, which represents a 130% percent increase.[2]
 
In Indonesia, the Fintech market generated up to USD 14.5 billion in transactional value during the course of 2016, a figure which is equivalent to 0.6% of the total worldwide transaction value of USD 2.355.9 billion for this year. Indonesia’s Fintech market is thus looking highly attractive and, according to Bank Indonesia Governor, Agus Martowardojo, the transaction value of Indonesia’s Fintech market looks set to grow steadily as global digitization marches unstoppably onwards.[3] Expressing a similar view, Mulya Effendi Siregar, Deputy Banking Monitoring Commissioner at the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan – “OJK”), is also optimistic regarding the future growth of Fintech in Indonesia, due to the country’s enormous population and correspondingly huge number of technology users.[4]
 
In a bid to shed a little more light upon the fascinating topic of Fintech, this week’s edition of Indonesian Law Digest (ILD) will analyze and address several of the key issues which relate to this promising field, specifically: