- The early adoption of mobile payments in Indonesia compares favorably with the take-up of earlier cashless payment systems, suggesting consumer enthusiasm.
- A supportive regulatory environment has spurred open competition and the use of different technologies.
- The adoption of QR codes will boost access to financial services in 2018.
Billed as the fastest growing mobile-commerce market in the world, Indonesia is poised to benefit from an explosion in mobile payment use next year. There are three main factors behind the coming surge.
First, consumers are ready. FT Confidential Research's latest survey of 1,000 urban consumers in 25 Indonesian cities revealed about a third used mobile payments at least once in the three months to the end of September. As expected, the adoption rate is higher in Java, the island that generated almost 58.5 per cent of Indonesia's GDP in 2016, compared with the rest of the country (see chart).
