JAKARTA – The experts agree that the United States and Europe banking crises will generate minimal impact on Indonesia’s financial situation, thanks to our seasoned and secure domestic financial regulation.

“Silicon Bank Valley is too far away, and only has few corporate users in Indonesia. The [financial] environments in the US and Indonesia are also different,” Alexander Rusli, CEO of PT Digiasia Bios and the former CEO of Indosat Ooredoo, explained during the OCBC NISP Business Forum 2023 earlier today (21/3).

Rusli said that in the US, the market is way more flexible compared to Indonesia, which, in return, keeps our domestic financial situation more stable. “As we know, Indonesia had a massive economic crash in 1997. Since then, we have become more rigid,” he then added.

Darryl Ratulangi, Managing Director of OCBC NISP Ventura, agreed upon Rusli’s opinion. “We often wonder why are our regulators so strict? But at times like this, it turns out to be useful,” he said.

Regarding the current global negative sentiment on Credit Suisse, Budi Rustanto, Head of Research of OCBC Sekuritas Indonesia, mentioned that the current liquidity level in Asian market is still well-sustained. “The crisis, as of now, only affects the US and Europe. There’s no need to worry extensively,” he said. Rusli further explained that as a global bank, the channelled funds will have to face cross-border regulations that are quite tight, thus minimising the impact on our domestic market.

Current banking crises in the west occur mostly due to users’ lack of trust in the bank, thus prompting panic moves in the form of mass money-withdrawing or a bank run. “Therefore, to prevent this from happening, for banks, we have to earn the trust of our customers,” Ratulangi concluded. (ZH)