TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The World Bank recorded that only 36 percent of the total Indonesian population from 2011 to 2014 had access to banks, a condition which was lower than Kenya and Thailand who managed to provide banking services to more than 70 percent of their population.
“From 100 adults, only 36 of them have access to formal banks. Meanwhile, Kenya, known as an under-developed country, has managed to provide banking services to 75 percent of its adult population through mobile banking,” Bank Indonesia’s (BI) analyst Rezha Mari Ibrahim said on Thursday, December 31, 2015.
Rezha said that the condition reflected the availability of financial institutions and demands from public.
Rezha explained that it would be costly for financial institutions to establish branch offices across the country. Rezha added that Indonesia is an archipelagic island country that would need reliable power and network services to support banking operations. Rezha revealed that the current infrastructure had not been sufficient for financial institutions to open branch offices across the country.
“In terms of public demands, the causes include money unavailability, relatively high cost of products, and [bank] distance from their homes,” he added.
Rezha claimed that BI had been encouraging financial institutions to improve accessibilities and promote non-cash movement.
BISNIS.COM