REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Bank Indonesia's (BI's) decision to allow banks to charge electronic money (e-money) top-up fee could contradict the efforts to encourage people to conduct cashless transactions, an economist stated.

"Initially, it (BI) urged the community to be more active in using e-money and encouraged cashless transactions, but now, the service is charged," economist Bhima Yudhistira of the Institute for Development of Economic and Finance noted here on Thursday.

Yudhistira made the statement in connection with the BI Board of Governors' regulation on the imposition of a top-up fee for e-money transactions in Jakarta on Thursday.

The economist said the imposition of a fee could prove counterproductive, especially ahead of the implementation of the 100 percent e-money transactions for toll road services, starting October 31, 2017.

It is feared that the imposition of the balance top-up fee could make the people reluctant to use e-money and return to conducting cash transactions.

The BI and banking industry should increasingly provide incentives to the community. Most importantly, banks have, so far, already benefited from the sales of e-money prepaid cards.

"The profits from the sales of the e-money prepaid cards should no longer necessitate the banks to charge a cost from the customers to obtain their e-money balance, although the charge is only Rp1,000 per transaction," he affirmed.

He said that BI, electronic money publishers, transport service operators, and real sectors should share the burden of the investment cost for setting up the e-money infrastructure.

They can take a cue from Hong Kong. The cost burden borne by the banks can be reduced, so that they can even offer a discount to customers.

"The scheme of sharing the expenses with the transport operator can actually reduce the burden on the card-issuing bank, so the bank can offer a price discount to the consumers," he explained.

With regard to the e-money balance top-up fee, the BI has officially set a maximum tariff at Rp1,500 charged for an e-money refill through the off-us channel or cross-channel transactions.

For the on-us transactions, or one channel payment, BI has decided to charge the top-up fee under two provisions: one set at a maximum cost of Rp750 and the other at a free fee.

The off-us transaction is a refill made through the channels of payment belonging to different card issuers or through partners, such as supermarkets and other retailers, while the on-us transaction is a refill made through the card issuer's payment channel.

Executive Director of the Communication Department of BI Agusman stated in Jakarta on Thursday that the maximum tariff limit of Rp1,500 for the off-us e-money transaction is set to regulate the structure of the current varied prices.

"Hence, a publisher that has currently set rates above the maximum limit is required to make adjustments," he noted.

The top-up cost terms for the e-money balance is stipulated in the BI Board of Governors Regulation No.19/10/PADG/2017 dated September 20, 2017, on the National Payment Gateway. 

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