OJK deputy commissioner Sukarela Batunanggar said as of April, there were 44 P2P lending businesses that had been granted operational permits by the authority. This figure, he said, was a considerable increase from just 30 P2P lending businesses in January, indicating robust growth in the industry.

“We have emphasized to these fintech [companies] that the most important aspects they need to receive acknowledgement are good governance, transparency and accountability,” Batunanggar said in Jakarta on Friday. 

The 14 newly registered virtual financing businesses include those that were sharia-compliant, he added.

There are still around 100 more fintech companies awaiting registration with the OJK. OJK head of digital finance innovation and microfinance group Fithri Hadi said some businesses in the pipeline were multipurpose financial services, which made it difficult for the authority to identify and classify.

“There are fintech platforms that offer not just loans but also things like mutual funds markets, which we have not even made principal rules for yet,” he said.

To deal with the vast development, the OJK will establish a regulatory sandbox similar to that made by Bank Indonesia for fintech companies in payment gateways. 

Fithri did not yet detail when exactly the regulatory sandbox would be realized but promised that it would be before the end of the year