Rindi Salsabila Putri, CNBC Indonesia
Market
Sunday, 01/28/2024 21:00 WIB
Photo: OJK stops infographics/Paylater, this is the figure of William Li, founder of Akulaku/Aristya Rahadian
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Some time ago, Akulaku became a concern after its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service was temporarily banned by the Financial Services Authority (OJK). Actually, who is the figure behind Akulaku?
William Li is the founder and CEO of Akulaku who graduated from Tsinghua University, China, with a background in law. Initially, William worked in the legal and financial fields for more than 10 years.
Education and professional experience have equipped William with a deep understanding of legal and financial aspects. William expressed this in an interview with Tech Buzz China, on the program “Livecast #11: How to Grow a Leading Consumer Finance Company in SEA”.
Before founding Akulaku, William worked at the law firm King & Wood Mallesons and served as investment manager at PING AN Insurance. However, his determination to create change in the world of finance led him to partner with Gordon Hu, a senior developer in China who also has work experience at Tencent.
In 2014, the two founded Akulaku, initially focusing on a bitcoin application for foreign workers in Hong Kong. However, when banks did not respond positively, they shifted their focus to Indonesia after discovering that many people in the country were facing difficulties in meeting traditional loan requirements.
In a subsequent interview, William revealed that there are approximately 35 thousand foreign workers who use our application but the banks don’t like our business, so we have to talk to many banks in Indonesia.
Finally, in 2016 Akulaku released its application in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Through its official website, Akulaku claims that more than 1,000 platform partners have used financial technology services at Akulaku.
The Akulaku application was initially known as an e-commerce platform with a paylater payment system, but over time, they developed their services by adding cash loan features and digital banking services.
However, OJK recently announced restrictions on certain business activities for PT Akulaku Finance Indonesia because the fintech lending company did not implement supervisory measures over BNPL services.
OJK Deputy Commissioner for Supervision of Financing Institutions, PMVs, LKMs and other LJKs, Bambang Budiawan, said that as a result of this sanction, AkuLaku was prohibited from carrying out business activities in distributing financing to both existing debtors and new debtors using the Paylater scheme.
“The point is AFI [Akulaku Finance Indonesia] “did not comply with the OJK’s mandatory actions,” said Bambang when confirmed by CNBC Indonesia, quoted on Sunday (28/1/2024).
Apart from paylaters, Akulaku is also prohibited from channeling financing through channeling or joint financing schemes. This PKU sanction has been conveyed by OJK via letter number SR-1/PL.1/2023 on October 5, 2023.
On a separate occasion, President Director of Akulaku Finance Indonesia Efrinal Sinaga said that currently the company he leads is making improvements to its paylater product. He hopes that in the near future the service can operate again.
“In its implementation, we are committed to fulfilling all provisions regulated by the Financial Services Authority. We prioritize running our business within a legal and compliance framework,” he said.
Most recently, the Chief Executive for Supervision of Financing Institutions, Venture Capital Companies, Microfinance Institutions and Other Financial Services Institutions OJK Agusman said, by the end of December 2023, Akulaku had completed corrective actions around 95.13% of all targets in the action plan.
“Taking into account the progress of the corrective action above, Akulaku has been given additional time until the end of June 2024 to complete several points that are currently in progress for completion,” said Agusman in a written answer to the OJK RDKB, Thursday, (11/1/2024).
On the other hand, the President Director of Akulaku Finance Indonesia, Efrinal Sinaga, promised that restrictions on paylater businesses would not last long.
“It’s still in progress, hopefully it won’t be long,” said Efrinal to CNBC Indonesia.
Watch the video below:
Video: Fewer branch offices, BNI opens up about current developments
(haa/haa)
2024-01-28 14:00:25
#profile #William #Founder #Akulaku #hit #OJK #syringe
