Progress of ICC’s Investigation Into The Alleged Lending Rate Cartel.

Jakarta (27/12) – The Indonesia Competition Commission (ICC) continues to carry out investigations into alleged violations of Law No. 5 of 1999 in information technology-based money lending services. Since the investigation began on October 25, 2023, the Investigation Task Force has sent written requests for data and documents to all peer-to-peer (P2P) lending companies that have been licenced by the Financial Services Authority and has received responses from 48 P2P companies. In addition, ICC has also requested information from the Chairman of the Indonesian Joint Funding Fintech Association (AFPI), 4 lenders, and 17 P2P organizers. Various information are still being collected and processed by the Investigator. ICC requests that all related parties be cooperative, so that no assistance from investigators is required and or submission to investigators for investigation of the non-cooperation.

For information, an investigation is a series of activities carried out by ICC Investigators in the context of collecting at least 2 (two) valid evidence. The investigation period is valid for 60 days and can be extended for 30 days each according to the needs of the Investigation Task Force in order to obtain sufficient evidence. In the investigation of the alleged online lending interest rate cartel case, the number of parties to be questioned is quite large, including the Reported Party, witnesses, and regulators. It is possible that there will be an additional number of reported parties, depending on the evidence related to the behavior of P2P companies that allegedly made an agreement to set interest rates close to the maximum interest rate. ICC needs to prove whether the behavior of several P2P lending providers that apply the same interest rate is the result of an agreement among the providers. ICC needs to prove whether the behavior of several P2P lending providers that apply the same interest rate is the result of an agreement among the providers.

The investigation process will certainly be faster if all parties cooperatively fulfil the summons and submit the requested letters and/or documents. Therefore, ICC requests all parties who have not fulfilled the summons to provide information or have not submitted the letters or documents requested during the investigation process to show a cooperative attitude. So that ICC does not need to request the assistance of investigators to present uncooperative parties or submit to investigators for investigation in accordance with applicable provisions as stipulated in Article 41 paragraph (3) of Law No. 5 Year 1999.