Indonesia's payments ecosystem mapping: banks, wallets, third-party platforms

Below is a detailed mapping analysis of the Indonesian payments ecosystem, covering the core players and their characteristics in banks, e-wallets and third-party payment platforms:

I. Banking system (traditional pillar)

1. The four state-owned banks

   • Mandiri: The largest state-owned bank with the e-wallet LinkAja (a joint venture with several state-owned enterprises).
   • BNI: Strong government background and support for national subsidy payments.
   • BRI: Widest coverage of rural areas with BRImo digital banking.
   • BTN: Focus on housing loans and less on payments business.

2. Private commercial banks

   • BCA (Bank Central Asia):: Highest market share, "Flazz" prepaid cards are widely used for retail micropayments.
   • CIMB Niaga/Maybank/DBS Indonesia: Foreign background and obvious advantages in cross-border payments.

3. Digital Banking Innovator

   • Jago(Formerly Bank Artos): deep collaboration with Gojek, embedded financial services benchmark.
   • Neobank E.g. TMRW (UOB), Jenius (BCA): purely online services to attract young users.

II. E-purse (leading daily transactions)

1. player who is head of the game:

   • GoPay (Gojek eco): largest mobile wallet in Indonesia, covering taxi/takeaway/e-commerce scenarios. market share over 35% by 2023.
     specificities:: High penetration of offline QR codes and rapid growth of "PayLater" credit payments.

2. OVO (Lippo Group + Grab + Toku):
   Earlier tied to Grab's mobility scenario, it has now expanded to retail (Indomaret chain), bill payment.
   Unique advantage: Deep integration with Lazada e-commerce.

3.DANA(Ant Group + Emtek):
Strong social attributes (through the chat application SaaS integration), rural penetration rate increased quickly.

4.Other regionalised players:

• LinkAja (Union of State Enterprises): portal for public government contributions.
• ShopeePay (Sea Group): Relying on Shopee e-commerce growth is rapid.

III. Third-party aggregation platforms (Critical Connectors)
1.Technology-driven:
- Xendit :API aggregation of 200+ channels, services for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), support for cross-border acquiring.
- Midtrans (Tokopedia): mainly serves e-commerce platforms.

2.Telecom Operator Convergence:
- Telkomsel's TCash retains its top-up portal after its transformation into LinkAja.
- Indosat's STMPay focuses on the needs of the Muslim community.

IV. Regulatory framework and trends
-Central Bank BI-led, core legislation.
- QRIS standardised QR codes.
- PBI No.23/2019 requires all NBFCs to be connected to the National Clearing System .
–Movements in 2024:
(1) Digital rupee (CBDC) pilot expansion; (2) foreign ownership restrictions may be loosened (Gopay may bring in new investors).

Data addendum: Indonesia's e-transaction volume reaches $53bn by 2023 (Frost & Sullivan), but the cash share is still as high as 65% (especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities).

V. Segmentation Scenarios and User Behaviour Analysis of Indonesia's Payment Ecosystem

1. Distribution of high-frequency payment scenarios

• E-commerce payments (lead):

  • ShopeePay(Shopee),OVO(Lazada/Tokopedia) dominated the share with BNPL (buy now pay later) penetration rising rapidly.
  • GoPay is growing synergistically in social e-commerce (TikTok Shop, etc.) through Gojek Logistics.

• Offline retail & micro-merchants:

  • BCA's Flazz card still dominates traditional retail, but e-wallet QRIS QR codes are accelerating substitution (especially convenience store chains Indomaret/Alfamart).
  • DANA expands street vendors (Pedagang Kaki Lima) through a network of agents in small and medium-sized cities.

• Public Contributions & Government Services:

  • LinkAja has a monopoly on utility bills, transport cards (e.g. JakLingko for Jakarta e-ticketing) and other SOE-related scenarios.

2. User stratification and payment preferences

VI. Competitive landscape of cross-border payments

1. Entry payments(Foreign - Indonesia).

   • Alipay+/WeChat Pay (for Chinese tourists) has access to BCA/Mandiri's acquiring system, but with limited share.
   • Visa/Mastercard online travel booking still dominates, but homegrown solutions (Doku's cross-border QR) are being rolled out in ASEAN.

2. Overseas corporate collections(Indonesia → Overseas).
   - Xendit supports multi-currency settlement, becoming the first choice for cross-border e-commerce.
   - Wise (formerly TransferWise) is growing fast in the personal money transfer space.

VII. Key trend projections for the next three years
1.regulatory escalation:: BI may force all e-wallets to transfer money to each other (similar to India's UPI), undermining the advantages of a closed ecosystem.
2.Super App Integration War:: Possible acquisition of small and medium-sized wallets by Grab-OVO or GoTo (Gopay+Tokopedia).
3.Credit Technology Explosion:

• Bank Jago and Akulaku collaborate on "embedded credit";
  - Kredivo (FINACCEL) expands from virtual cards to full scene staging.

4.Hardware innovation attempts:
- Gojek tests NFC wearable device payments;
- QRIS will support sound wave transmission technology (Sound-based Payment).

VIII. Challenges and risk early warning
⚠️ Compliance costs:: BI's anti-money laundering scrutiny is tightening, and foreign platforms need localisation.
⚠️ profitability dilemma: Gopay and others still rely on subsidies to gain customers, and there may be a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the industry after 2025.