Jakarta (ANTARA) - Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that 16 banks and non-banking institutions were added as new BI-FAST participants, with the current total member count reaching 122 that represent 94 percent of the national retail payment system.

BI-FAST is a payment system infrastructure provided by BI that can be accessed through applications provided by the payment system industry to facilitate retail payment transactions for the people.

The 16 additional BI-FAST members are members of the sixth batch since BI-FAST was unveiled on December 21, 2021, Executive Director of BI's Communication Department, Erwin Haryono, noted in a statement, Monday.

Within the batch, 14 banks that joined as BI-FAST members comprise 11 national private banks, two regional development banks (BPDs), and one foreign bank. Moreover, two non-banking institutions became premiere BI-FAST members.

These banking and non-banking institutions comprise the Bank Panin Dubai Syariah, Lampung BPD, Central Sulawesi BPD, and PT Airpay International Indonesia (ShopeePay).

The others are PT Espay Debit Indonesia Koe (Dana) Bank KB Bukopin, Bank Commonwealth, and Bank Shinhan Indonesia.

The inclusion of the two non-banking institutions is expected to encourage the growth of Digital Financial Economy (EKD) and provide broader opportunities for the public to use BI-FAST.

To improve the efficiency of infrastructure provision, six of the 14 sixth batch member banks utilize the multitenancy infrastructure, or the concept of multi banks one connector.

The BI-FAST implementation stage by members to customers is adjusted according to the members' strategy and plans in preparing the payment channel.

The expansion of BI-FAST membership continues to be conducted with the hopes that it will meet the people's demand, including BI's stakeholders for fast, easy, inexpensive, safe, and reliable retail payment system services.

BI-FAST is a form of contribution from BI and the payment system industry in encouraging the acceleration of the national economy and finance digitalization to support financial inclusion and national economic growth.

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Translator: Martha H S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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