Indonesia Payment Landscape

Payment Landscape

Indonesia Payment Landscape

Indonesia is the most populous country in Southeast Asia and has a large, rapidly digitizing payments market. Its payment system is led by Bank Indonesia (BI), with the BI-FAST real-time payment system and the QRIS unified QR standard at its core. Virtual accounts (VAs) are a mainstream method for e-commerce and O2O collection, while the e-wallet ecosystem includes GoPay, OVO, DANA, ShopeePay, and others. Understanding this system helps explain PayCools' local products and capabilities.

1

Regulation and Payment Architecture

Entity	Responsibility
BI (Bank Indonesia)	Payments regulation and the Indonesia Payment System Blueprint 2025, building an open, interconnected, and collaborative payment ecosystem
OJK (Financial Services Authority)	Financial services supervision, including some digital finance activities
BI-FAST	BI's fast payment system, based on ISO 20022 and available 24/7 in real time
BI-SSSS	BI's securities settlement system (less relevant to retail payments)

💡Indonesian payment licenses include PJP (Payment Service Provider, categories 1/2/3) and PIK (payment infrastructure operator). Non-bank payment institutions must hold the appropriate PJP license or work with a licensed institution.

2

Interbank Clearing Networks

BI-FAST

The central bank's fast payment system for 24/7 real-time transfers, based on the ISO 20022 standard.

• Arrival time: Real time (seconds to minutes)
• Operating hours: 24/7
• Amount limit: Up to approximately 250,000,000 IDR per transaction, depending on the bank
• Use cases: Real-time transfers, merchant settlement, payouts

SKNBI (formerly SKN + RTGS)

BI's integrated national clearing system.

• RTGS (Bi-RTGS): Large-value real-time gross settlement
• SKN (National Clearing System): Small-value batch clearing, T+1
• Prima / Besmart / Lenpres: Clearing networks of certain bank alliances

3

Virtual Account (VA) Collection

Virtual accounts are one of the most common collection methods for e-commerce and O2O in Indonesia. The merchant generates a unique VA number for each order, and the user pays by transferring to that VA through online banking, an ATM, or mobile banking.

• Major bank VAs: BCA, Mandiri, BNI, BRI, Permata, CIMB Niaga, and others
• SNP (Standar Nasional Payment): A merchant VA interoperability standard promoted by BI, allowing one VA number to be recognized by multiple banks
• Characteristics: The amount is fixed (order amount), reconciliation is clear (one VA per order), and multiple channels are supported (online banking / ATM / mobile banking)
• Arrival: Real-time or same-day confirmation, depending on the bank

💡PayCools supports VA collection in Indonesia. The merchant creates an order through PayCools to generate a VA number, and the user pays by transferring to it. This is suitable for e-commerce, SaaS, education, and other online collection scenarios.

4

QRIS Unified QR

QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) is the national unified QR standard promoted by BI and based on the EMV specification. All QRIS-enabled wallets and banks can use the same QR code for cross-institution payments.

• Cross-institution interoperability: GoPay, OVO, DANA, ShopeePay, bank apps, and others can all scan the same QRIS code
• Dynamic / static: Supports static codes (fixed) and dynamic codes (with amount and order binding)
• Cross-border interoperability: Cross-border interoperability with Thailand PromptPay, Malaysia DuitNow, Philippines QRPH, and Singapore PayNow is being rolled out
• Use cases: Offline retail, micro-merchants, online collection

5

E-Wallets

GoPay

One of Indonesia's largest e-wallets, operated by Gojek (now GoTo), covering mobility, food delivery, and payments, and now upgraded to a digital bank.

OVO

Backed by Lippo Group, Grab, and Tokopedia, and widely used for e-commerce, retail, and mobility.

DANA

A joint venture between Emtek and Ant Group, focused on digital wallets and financial services.

ShopeePay / LinkAja / DOKU

ShopeePay (e-commerce ecosystem), LinkAja (state-owned telecom wallet), and DOKU (an early e-wallet / payment gateway) are also important participants.

6

Other Payment Methods

Method	Description
Convenience store OTC	Cash payment at Alfamart / Indomaret counters. The user generates a payment code online and pays in store, an important cash-in method for people without bank accounts
Credit cards	Online payments through Visa / Mastercard / JCB with 3D Secure (3DS) verification; credit card penetration in Indonesia is relatively low
Debit cards / direct online banking	Bank debit cards and direct online banking payments
Paylater (BNPL)	Krediva, Akulaku, Atome, and other buy-now-pay-later services are growing rapidly among younger users

7

Compliance Highlights

• Licensing: Payment services require a PJP license issued by BI or partnership with a licensed institution
• KYC: Wallet accounts are tiered, with different balance and transaction limits for each tier
• Data localization: Indonesia's Personal Data Protection (PDP) Law requires compliant processing of personal data, and some data must be stored locally
• Foreign exchange: Cross-border fund flows must comply with BI foreign exchange rules

8

PayCools Capabilities in Indonesia

Capability	Description
Acquiring	Supports VA collection, QRIS dynamic / static QR, checkout and direct API modes
Payout	Supports payouts to local bank accounts (BI-FAST / SKNBI) and wallets such as GoPay / OVO / DANA
Split payment / refund	Supports split payments and original-route refunds
API domain	developers.paycools.co.id