Indonesian companies face increasingly difficult decisions about where to invest, how to finance their operations and which markets to serve. Trade tensions are disrupting supply chains, geopolitical uncertainty is affecting business planning and domestic policy requirements are adding complexity to treasury operations.

Companies need more financing, better control over cash and reliable access to international banking services. Yet these requirements are becoming more demanding as banks face higher funding costs, growing credit demand and substantial investment requirements for technology and operational resilience.

Financial and technological capabilities also vary considerably across banks. Larger institutions generally have greater capacity to modernise and develop specialised services, while smaller banks must make more selective investment decisions.

The result is a difficult commercial environment in which growing demand for banking services does not necessarily translate into stronger profitability. Corporate clients are adding banking relationships to obtain financing, geographical coverage and specialist capabilities, while banks must capture more of their financial activity without assuming disproportionate risks.

These challenges framed the Indonesia Transaction Banking Forum 2026, held on 28 October at Hotel Indonesia Kempinski in Jakarta. Organised by FIS, with Crisil Coalition Greenwich as knowledge partner, Red Hat as technology partner and TAB Global as media partner, the forum examined how banks can respond to changing corporate requirements and strengthen their competitiveness in 2027.

Amit Chopra, Vice President and Asia Pacific Head of Banking and Payments at FIS, opened the proceedings by highlighting the implications of artificial intelligence (AI), emerging settlement technologies and increasingly sophisticated fraud risks.

OJK identifies uneven banking capabilities as a constraint on modernisation

Indah Iramadhini, Executive Director and Head of the Banking Regulation and Development Department at Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), outlined the regulator's priorities for strengthening the industry.

She said Indonesian banks had entered the current period with relatively strong aggregate financial indicators. Banking assets increased from approximately IDR 9,000 trillion (about $500 billion) in 2020 to IDR 13,000 trillion (about $720 billion) in 2025, while the industry's capital adequacy ratio stood at around 25.9%.

However, these indicators concealed substantial differences between institutions.
Iramadhini said four banks in the highest core-capital category accounted for approximately half of industry capital, while 58 banks in the lowest category accounted for less than 10%.

The figures illustrated the concentration of capital across the industry, although they did not establish the financial condition of individual institutions or directly measure their capacity to invest in technology.

OJK's separate assessment of banking technology maturity provided a clearer indication of the challenges facing modernisation. Larger institutions generally demonstrated more consistent digital capabilities, while smaller banks faced greater difficulties in data management, technology governance and operational resilience.

These gaps were becoming more consequential as corporate treasurers demanded real-time cash visibility, faster reconciliation and integrated trade, foreign-exchange and liquidity services.

Iramadhini outlined OJK's Roadmap for the Development and Strengthening of Indonesian Banking 2026–2030. Its five strategic priorities are institutional strengthening and integrity, technology modernisation and digital resilience, financial market deepening and stronger intermediation, sustainable finance and resilience to sustainability risks, and integrated licensing and adaptive supervision.

For transaction banking, an important priority is the development of services around corporate supply chains and business ecosystems.

Banks are being encouraged to integrate financial services into commercial processes, strengthen relationships across value chains and increase operating deposits and fee-based income.

OJK is also promoting open banking and open finance through application programming interface (API) standards that support secure connectivity between banks and their partners.

However, greater connectivity brings additional risks.

OJK has adopted a principles-based approach to AI governance, recognising differences in banks' scale, complexity and technological maturity. Institutions remain accountable for managing the technologies and external services on which they depend.

“Outsourcing a service never outsources accountability,” Iramadhini said.

She emphasised the need for due diligence, continuous monitoring of third-party providers, contingency arrangements and stronger oversight of technology risks.

Iramadhini urged banks to modernise according to their clients' needs and their capacity to manage risk, strengthen governance at board and senior management level and cooperate more closely on industry resilience.

The regulatory challenge is therefore not simply to accelerate digitalisation. It is to ensure that institutions with different resources and capabilities can modernise without compromising the reliability of services on which corporate clients depend.

Rising credit demand and deposit competition complicate banking economics

The commercial implications were examined by Crisil Coalition Greenwich, represented by Ruchirangad Agarwal, Head of Corporate Banking Practice for Asia.

Crisil Coalition Greenwich provides financial services market intelligence and competitive benchmarking through industry analysis and corporate client research.

Agarwal said corporate and transaction banking remained an attractive and growing business despite macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds affecting the region, including Indonesia. He invited his colleague Avinash Bhatia, Head of Transaction Banking Competitor Analytics for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, to present the transaction banking revenue-pool findings.

Bhatia presented findings showing that Indonesia’s transaction banking revenue pool grew faster than that of Asia excluding Japan in dollar terms during the first half of 2026. Indonesia outpaced the regional comparison in both trade finance and cash management, with a more pronounced gap in cash management.

Bhatia identified growing demand for trade facilities, working-capital financing and longer-term loans as companies sought additional liquidity.

At the same time, banks were facing greater competition for deposits. Corporate customers were shifting funds from operating accounts into term deposits, increasing funding costs.

Banks therefore needed to assess corporate relationships more comprehensively, considering financing exposure, operating deposits, payments, cash management and other services together.

Companies are adding banking relationships to manage trade disruption

Agarwal examined how corporate clients were responding to trade disruption and changing financial requirements.

Crisil Coalition Greenwich's Indonesian research included interviews with more than 200 large corporates and more than 200 mid-sized companies operating within Indonesia, alongside research in other Asian markets.

Among large corporates surveyed in Indonesia, four out of five reported negative effects from trade and supply-chain disruption, particularly higher input costs and greater operational complexity.

Businesses were responding by diversifying suppliers, exploring new markets and re-calibrating their international operations.

These changes were increasing demand for trade finance, working-capital support, foreign-exchange hedging and cross-border cash management.

The research found that the proportion of Indonesian corporates surveyed that had added at least one banking relationship for cross-border cash management within the past year was the highest among the Asian markets surveyed.

Agarwal emphasised that companies do not establish additional banking relationships casually. Onboarding, documentation, system integration and ongoing account management impose costs.

Their willingness to incur these costs suggested that existing banks were not always able to provide the financing capacity, geographical coverage or specialist services required.

This created opportunities for banks to win new mandates while increasing competition for established clients' financial activity.

Agarwal also identified ease of doing business as an increasingly important consideration in bank selection.

Corporate clients wanted faster onboarding, fewer repetitive documentation requirements and direct connectivity between banking platforms and their enterprise resource planning and treasury management systems.

APIs and host-to-host integration were becoming more important as companies sought to manage multiple banks through their own systems.

Crisil Coalition Greenwich's research also indicated that Indonesian banks were narrowing the gap with international institutions in digital capabilities and client-facing services.

Global banks retained advantages in areas such as international trade advisory capabilities, but domestic institutions were becoming stronger competitors.

As digital capabilities become more widely available, the quality of execution, responsiveness and understanding of clients' businesses will carry greater weight.

Domestic and international banks compete through complementary corporate capabilities

These findings provided the context for the executive panel, Which capabilities will win the corporate relationship in 2027?, moderated by Foo Boon Ping, President and Managing Editor of TAB Global, the financial services research, intelligence and media group that publishes The Asian Banker.

The panellists were Herani Hermawan, Head of Services at Citi Indonesia; Efransyah Mudani, Wholesale Transaction Digital Channel Division Head at PT. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. (BNI); Delia Melissa, Country Head of Global Trade Solutions at HSBC Indonesia; and Dheeraj Joshi, Asia Pacific Growth Lead for Money Movement at FIS.

The discussion examined how tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, changing supply chains and domestic policy requirements were affecting corporate financial management.

Foo noted that large companies maintained multiple banking relationships to obtain financing, specialist capabilities and geographical coverage while diversifying risk. The competitive question was how banks could remain relevant and earn a greater share of clients' financial activity.

Hermawan said Indonesian companies expanding internationally were increasingly considering regional treasury centres to improve the management of overseas operations.

These businesses needed advice on treasury structures, liquidity management and regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions.

Established multinational corporations faced a related challenge: improving visibility over cash held across subsidiaries and making more effective use of liquidity as financing requirements increased.

Better liquidity management could help reduce unnecessary borrowing and financing costs.
Mudani described a different opportunity for BNI, based on deeper integration with domestic corporate ecosystems.

The bank was using APIs to connect payments, cash management and financing services with clients' business systems. Its approach extended beyond major corporate customers to their suppliers, distributors and other commercial partners.

Supporting these relationships could allow BNI to capture additional transaction flows, deposits and financing activity across supply chains.

The distinction illustrated how domestic and international banks could compete through different strengths.

International banks could provide global treasury networks, cross-border expertise and specialist financing. Domestic institutions could use local relationships, distribution networks and knowledge of commercial ecosystems to serve businesses throughout corporate value chains.

For companies operating across multiple markets, these services could be complementary rather than mutually exclusive.

Changing trade models require faster financing and more integrated payments

Melissa said geopolitical uncertainty and tariffs were accelerating changes in international supply chains, with HSBC seeing greater activity along ASEAN and China-related corridors.

She also identified changes in the nature of transactions requiring financing.

Traditional goods-related trade was increasingly accompanied by services and subscription-based commercial arrangements. According to Melissa, growth in HSBC's services financing was approximately twice that of its goods-related financing.

These business models created different requirements for payment timing, financing and transaction documentation.

Melissa described how HSBC had shortened certain payables and receivables financing drawdowns to minutes and was using AI to assist trade-document checking.

Human oversight remained necessary where transactions involved complex documentation and compliance requirements.

Joshi focused on the payment infrastructure needed to support increasingly international corporate operations.

He said companies wanted faster activation of new payment corridors, better liquidity forecasting and more reliable tracking of cross-border transactions.

Domestic real-time payment systems had raised expectations for international payments, particularly around settlement speed, transparency and availability.

However, Joshi argued that corporate clients were less concerned with which settlement technology banks used than with whether payments arrived reliably and funds were available when required.

This increased the importance of payment orchestration: the ability to connect different payment networks and settlement mechanisms while managing the associated operational requirements.

The common challenge was to make financing and payments work more closely with underlying commercial transactions rather than require companies to adapt their operations to separate banking processes.

Regulatory complexity and fraud risks test banks' digital capabilities

The panel also examined the practical effects of domestic regulatory requirements.

Hermawan observed that banking systems might support near-real-time processing, but documentation and compliance obligations could still delay transactions.

Banks therefore needed to help clients navigate regulatory requirements without compromising compliance or operational efficiency.

Foo raised Indonesia's natural-resource export-proceeds requirements as an example of how policy changes affected corporate treasury operations.

Mudani said BNI had developed a dedicated portal enabling exporters to monitor proceeds, calculate balances available for use and manage supporting documentation.

The system was intended to simplify compliance and improve treasury visibility.

It illustrated how regulatory knowledge and practical technology could create value for corporate clients, particularly where domestic requirements intersected with international banking arrangements.

The expansion of digital services also brought security challenges.
Mudani said BNI had introduced transaction scoring within its BNIdirect platform to identify potentially fraudulent transactions.

According to Mudani, the system had stopped approximately 15 suspected phishing-related transactions during its first month of operation.

The reported result provided an early example of applying transaction analytics to fraud prevention, although a longer period of operation would be needed to assess its effectiveness.

The experience reinforced OJK's emphasis on governance and resilience as banks expanded digital connectivity.

Data, technology and advisory skills determine the value of banking investment

The final part of the panel examined the capabilities banks should prioritise in 2027.

Joshi identified AI-enabled services, liquidity forecasting and faster activation of payment corridors as important areas of investment.

He also called for closer integration between business and technology teams. Transaction bankers needed to understand the systems supporting their products, while technology specialists needed to understand clients' commercial requirements.

Melissa emphasised the increasingly complex responsibilities of corporate treasurers and chief financial officers as companies navigated changing trade relationships, financing needs and geopolitical uncertainty.

Banks needed to provide more integrated support across financing, trade and treasury management.

Mudani said BNI was prioritising deeper connectivity with corporate ecosystems while using technology to improve internal productivity and service delivery.

Hermawan placed particular emphasis on people.

Banks were accumulating more data and introducing increasingly sophisticated analytical tools, but employees needed the skills to interpret information and translate it into useful advice.

As routine processes became more automated, relationship managers and product specialists would need stronger analytical and advisory capabilities.

Technology investment alone would not determine competitiveness. Banks also needed reliable data, staff who understood corporate businesses and organisational arrangements that allowed technology and product teams to respond to client requirements.

Bank modernisation requires joint business and technology priorities

The practical choices behind banking modernisation were explored in a fireside chat featuring Y.B. Hariantono, Director, Operations and Information Technology at Bank Mega, and moderator Arvind Swami, Head of Financial Services, Asia Pacific at Red Hat.

Hariantono emphasised that established banks must account for legacy systems when planning transformation. Unlike newer digital banks, traditional institutions operate with existing technology and dependencies that shape how they can introduce change.

He stressed the need for business and IT teams to work closely on investment priorities, weighing costs against expected benefits. As banking services become more dependent on technology, transformation decisions require a shared understanding of commercial objectives and operational requirements.

Operational resilience was another priority. Hariantono highlighted cybersecurity and data privacy as essential to maintaining trust, alongside the expectation that banking systems remain available around the clock. Resilience therefore needed to extend beyond meeting service-level agreements to supporting continuous service.

On AI, he emphasised the need for governance involving both business and technology teams, citing a joint committee to develop guidelines as one possible approach.

Banks must strengthen relationship economics and address shared constraints

Indonesia's transaction banking industry must respond to more complex corporate requirements while managing tighter funding economics, uneven institutional capabilities and growing operational risks.

Individual banks need to evaluate corporate relationships across financing, operating deposits, transaction flows and fee income. They must choose the markets and client segments they can serve effectively and direct investment towards capabilities that demonstrably improve service, efficiency and risk management.

Other constraints require collective action. Payment interoperability, regulatory processes, cybersecurity and third-party risk management depend on cooperation between banks, regulators and technology providers.

OJK's modernisation agenda provides a framework, although differences in banks' resources and capabilities will affect implementation.

In concluding the executive panel, Foo observed that competition would intensify while cooperation would remain necessary in areas such as cybersecurity.

He argued that the real competition was not simply for transaction volumes or market share, but for a greater share of clients' financial activity, earned through relevance, trust and the ability to help businesses navigate opportunities and risks.

For 2027, the central challenge is to convert growing demand for corporate banking into sustainable relationships. That will depend on banks' ability to combine financing capacity, reliable transaction services, commercial understanding and effective risk management without allowing the cost of serving clients to erode the value of those relationships.