"More Indonesians have access to banking services. Banks encourage the use of electronic money (e-money) in retail transactions," said Boedi Armanto on Wednesday.
Boedi said as of now, the number of e-money transactions has reached Rp 24 trillion per year. Bank Indonesia (BI) should encourage people to use e-money.
"It will be beneficial to Bank Indonesia if people use e-money," he said.
Bank Indonesia is keen to increase the number of credit and debit card owners from 30 to 60 percent in 2013.
"Last year, 21 million cards were used for retail transactions," he said.
Bank Indonesia will also encourage the implementation of branch-less banking services in rural areas. Banking transactions should be as easy as adding credit to a pre-paid cell phone, Boedi added.
"The new system will reduce operational cost of a bank. Customers will find it easy to carry out banking transactions," he said.
The branch-less banking system has been successful in Kenya, Africa. More than 200,000 customers have benefited from a branch-less banking system. This system enables banking transactions to be carried out by third parties, without the need to go to a branch or an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine).
Last week, Bank Indonesia began to accelerate the standardization of e-money or electronic money. This way, electronic money transactions will be more efficient and effective.
"Next year, Bank Indonesia will standardize debit and credit cards," said the Deputy Director of the Department of Accounting and Payment System at Bank Indonesia, Sri Suparni JF, on Tuesday.
(A050/KR-BSR/B003)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
