Indonesia’s emoney adoption rate is growing well, from just IDR 5 billion (US$418,000) transacted in 2007 to IDR 30 trillion (US$2.5 billion) in 2013. Today, about IDR 7.7 billion (US$643,000) is circulated on a daily basis using emoney tools in Indonesia like ewallets and prepaid cards.
The Bank of Indonesia defines electronic money as the kind of money that is stored on a system like a server or chip. They are used by consumers as either ewallet services or prepaid cards1. These ewallets and prepaid cards are especially useful in a nation with such low banking and credit card penetration, helping people make online payments or storing money for essential things like taking the bus or paying bills.
Here are 17 emoney options that people can use in Indonesia. They all have the official stamp of approval from the country’s central bank.
Banks
Most banks have an emoney product in the form of a prepaid card. The card can be used by anybody, and the banks usually collaborate with universities to integrate student ID cards into prepaid cards. These cards usually can hold a maximum value of IDR 1 million (US$85).
1. Jakarta Bank – JakCard
Launched in 2012, the Bank of Jakarta issued JakCard as a way to pay for public transportation in the Jakarta area. It is the main payment tool for Jakarta’s busway system and it can also be used for several train lines. Users can buy and top-up their JakCards at designated Jakarta Banks as well as at affiliated partners.
Unfortunately, there’s no added incentive in using JakCard besides the fact that it is a cashless payment tool and can be used for a number of public transportation means.
2. Mandiri Bank – Indomaret Card, GazCard, E-Toll Card, and Mandiri E-Cash
As the biggest bank in Indonesia, Mandiri Bank dominates the emoney industry with three prepaid cards: Indomaret Card, GazCard, and E-Toll Card. Each one can be used to pay for road tolls and gas, as well as for payments at over 870 offline merchants.
The bank issued a total of 3.5 million prepaid cards up to December 2013. That year, the bank processed 113.4 million transactions, which was 82.2 percent of all emoney transactions that year; those had a total value of IDR 1.51 trillion (US$96 million), which is over half of 2013’s emoney-based spending in Indonesia.
Indomaret is a mini-market chain with over 4,000 outlets across Indonesia. With the Indomaret Card (created in partnership with Mandiri Bank), users can get discounts when shopping at the minimarket store. The card also functions as a payment tool for monthly electricity bills, landline calls, and cable TV. You can get an Indomaret Card at any Indomaret branch.
GazCard was launched as early as 2006 in partnership with oil and gas company Pertamina. People can use the card to purchase gas at 125 Pertamina gas stations in Greater Jakarta. They can buy GazCard at Mandiri Bank branches.
People can use E-Toll Cards to pay for toll roads. There are specific toll booths that accept these cards, and which are usually less crowded than the ones that take cash, so it’s a good way to shave a few minutes from your car journey.
A recent regulation revision regarding emoney in Indonesia looks to have hit Mandiri Bank the hardest as it previously enjoyed exclusive partnerships with toll road companies since 2009. The central bank no longer permits such partnerships in order to allow other industry players to get into this space.
Lastly, its next product is arguably the most disruptive one in Indonesia’s epayment industry: the new Mandiri E-Cash. Launched last October, E-Cash lets any user with a phone have an ewallet account. Feature phone users, for example, can register for an E-Cash account via USSD service (*141*6#). They can then use the same USSD number for top-ups, payments, and money withdrawals from ATMs. Mandiri E-Cash has over 50 merchant partners so far.
(See: Indonesia’s central bank seeks to boost epayments industry with updated regulations)
3. Bank Central Asia (BCA) – Flazz
With five million cards issued, Flazz is the current prepaid card leader in Indonesia in terms of card numbers. Folks can use the card at over 23,000 merchant outlets, and it features regular promotions such as free parking for the first hour at certain places. Anybody can buy Flazz cards at BCA Bank or designated Flazz merchants.
4. Mega Bank – Mega Cash and Mega Virtual
Mega Cash is a prepaid debit card that can be used by anyone to buy products from merchants, such as tickets for the TransStudio Bandung theme park. It can be used as an ATM card too.
Mega Virtual, on the other hand, is an ewallet service whereby Mega Bank clients can pay for online services.
5. Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) – TapCash and Kartuku
Launched in March this year, TapCash prepaid cards are poised to replace the older BNI PrePaid system as the new one is safer. TapCash can be used on the TransJakarta busway system and in several university canteens. Similar to Flazz and Mega Cash, anyone can buy and use the TapCash cards.
Kartuku is an end-to-end payment service provider in Indonesia with smart cards as one of its offerings.
6. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) – BRIZZI
Launched at the end of 2011, there were 1.5 million BRIZZI prepaid cards issued up to September 2013. Anybody can buy a BRIZZI card and use it at BRI merchant partners like Pertamina gas stations, Indomaret and Alfamart minimarket stores, and on TransJakarta.
7. Permata Bank – BBM Money
In February 2013, BlackBerry launched its own ewallet service called BBM Money with Indonesia as its pilot country. Partnering with Permata Bank, users can pay electricity bills and transfer cash from other banks, and withdraw cash from Permata Bank ATMs.
BBM Money hasn’t taken off in the archipelago country. The BlackBerry team admitted that it didn’t achieve the target user numbers in 2013, and hinted that it may develop the app for other platforms like iOS and Android this year. There’s also the possibility that BBM Money will expand beyond Indonesia in the near future.
8. CIMB Niaga Bank – Rekening Ponsel
Rekening Ponsel (which means “handphone account”) is another distruptive ewallet service in the country. Just like Mandiri E-Cash, Rekening Ponsel allows users to do top-ups, payments, and ATM withdrawals by using any type of phone. The big difference compared to Mandiri E-Cash is that users need to go to CIMB Niaga banks for registration, whereas E-Cash users can register via USSD service without needing to step out of their home. Rekening Ponsel is now available in over 1,000 merchant outlets across the country.
9. PT. Bank National Nobu – Nobu E-Money
Nobu Bank’s prepaid card service is available for Pelita Harapan University in Tangerang, but isn’t yet available to the public. The company plans to be more aggressive with its emoney tool this year and aims to get more users in Java island first. The team says it will prioritize embracing retail merchants first before collaborating with transportation and toll companies.
Telcos
All three big telcos – Telkomsel, XL Axiata, and Indosat – have emoney services in the form of ewallets. To encourage user growth, all three companies agreed to allow its users to transfer cash to each other even though they’re using competing services.
However, this interoperability doesn’t look too popular as the three telcos record a steady decline in the number of users who transfer cash between rival services. The three telcos recorded about 350,000 daily uses of the inter-card transfers in their early days, but now facilitates just 30,000 to 60,000 per day.
While Indonesia’s total daily transaction level using emoney tools amounts to IDR 7.7 billion ($643,000) a day, the three telcos only get about IDR 200 million ($16,700) to IDR 300 million ($25,000) of that pie.
10. Telkomsel – TCash
With 15 million registered users, TCash is the biggest telco ewallet service out of the three in this list. The service is tied to more than 500 merchants in Indonesia, including ecommerce players and purchase online gaming vouchers, and offers promotions from time to time.
Telkomsel is part of Telkom Group.
11. Indosat – Dompetku
Indosat’s Dompetku won an award for the best mobile-based emoney product in Asia at the Mobile Money Global Awards 2013. It now has over 800,000 registered users and can be used to pay things like utility bills, cable TV, and for gaming vouchers.
12. XL Axiata – XL Tunai
Similar to Dompetku, XL Axiata says that there are about 800,000 people who have tried using its XL Tunai service. It collaborates with over 100 merchants, totalling over 10,000 retail outlets in Indonesia. You can also use XL Tunai to pay for train trips.
Others
13. Doku – DokuWallet
Doku is one of the leading independent epayment players in Indonesia. The seven-year-old team has three products: DokuPay (which allows businesses to accept online payments methods like credit cards and bank transfers), MyShortCart (for social commerce on blogshops and Facebook to accept online payments), and DokuWallet (an ewallet product).
Last year Doku reported that it had 400 merchant partners and processed a total IDR 1.1 trillion ($92 million) via online payments in the last six years.
14. Telkom Indonesia – Flexy Cash dan i-VAS Card
As the largest information and communications company in Indonesia, Telkom inevitably has its own offering in this space. Flexy Cash is an ewallet service for Telkom Flexi CDMA users. However, Telkom Flexi is going down (taking Flexy Cash with it), and the company will finish migrating its user-base and technology to subsidiary Telkomsel at the end of 2015.
The i-VAS card is a prepaid card for Telkomsel and Flexi users. They can use it to buy online content like music and game vouchers.
See: The 3 big CDMA players in Indonesia aren’t looking too good
15. Skye Mobile Money – Skye Card
Skye Mobile Money comes in the form of smartphone apps for BlackBerry and Android (with iOS coming soon). Users will get one Skypoint for each IDR 1 spent using the Skye Money app. These points can be redeemed for things like mobile credit and shopping vouchers.
In February, Skye Mobile Money partnered up with Binus University to launch Binus’ own ewallet service called BEAT (Binus Easy Transaction).
16. Finnet Indonesia – FinChannel
FinChannel agents can help customers wire in money to various bank accounts, pay electricity bills, buy train tickets, and online game vouchers. These agents can process all the transactions using just a mobile phone.
Finnet Indonesia is part of Telkom Group.
17. Artajasa – MYNT
Artajasa is an electronic payment solution provider. The team cooperates with numerous banks to build payment solutions for mobile banking and ATMs. Artajasa’s emoney product is MYNT, a prepaid card for buying online items.
The unlisted
A number of major online payment firms in the country – like Indomog, MOL, Unipin, Ipaymu, and MimoPay – have emoney products but don’t yet have the stamp of approval from Indonesia’s central bank. For that reason, they’re not in this list.
See: 5 top payment solutions for online games in Indonesia
Disclosure: Epayment enablers such as DokuPay, FinPay, and Veritrans – which act as a bridge for merchants to accept online payments via credit cards and bank transfers – are not included in this emoney list.↩
Here are 17 emoney options Indonesians can use for shopping, travel, and ecommerce
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