Tokopedia obtains P2P lending operating license

Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued operating licenses to 10 P2P lending startups in April 2021, including Tokopedia's lending unit Dhanapala. Shopee's Shopee PayLater is still waiting for a license.

The new license will allow Tokopedia to expand its "Modal Toko" loan service for sellers on the platform. Through the loan function available on the Tokopedia app, sellers can obtain capital loans of up to 200 million rupiah (about $14,000). According to its website, Dhanapala has lent nearly 100 billion rupiah (7 million U.S. dollars) to more than 8,000 borrowers.

Other startups that received operating licenses from the OJK include Payfazz’s (Indonesian fintech) lending arm Modal Rakyat and education-focused fintech firms Cicil and Pintek as well as 360 Kredi, Kredinesia, Solusiku, Cairin, TrustIQ, and Klik Kami.

To date, the OJK has issued licenses to 56 companies, and the other 90 registered players are still waiting for their licenses. Registered P2P lending companies must operate for one year before they can apply for a license; otherwise, their registration status will be revoked. Meanwhile, companies with operating licenses can hold them indefinitely.

Some companies are still in the registration process, including Shopee’s lending arm Shopee PayLater (PT Lentera Dana Nusantara) and agri-tech startup Tanihub’s lending platform Tanifund.