Indonesia Contends With Aggressive Chinese Online Lenders

Gareth Jones

September 21, 2018

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Gareth Jones

Several people in Indonesia who failed to repay loans on time to Chinese fintech lenders have complained that their colleagues and friends have been harassed after they granted permission to the lender to access their contacts as part of the loan application process.

Fintech lenders, who run platforms designed to disburse relatively small loans to individuals and small businesses, are viewed by Indonesian authorities as part of the solution to a $73 billion yearly shortfall between the country’s estimated financing needs and the amount banks provide. The sector is still growing quickly. Indonesia's 64 registered fintech lenders disbursed $534 million between January and the end of July while earlier this month, Go-Jek, the country’s biggest online platform, partnered with three local peer-to-peer lenders as part of its move deeper into fintech, or financial technology.

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/09/21/technology/21reuters-china-p2p-indonesia.html