Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Academic figure and former Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Prof. Dr. Aswanto, has a different or 'at odds' view with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) regarding the alleged cartel or interest rate monopoly carried out fintech peer to peer (P2P) lending or Online Loans (Pinjol).
According to Aswanto, the KPPU's allegations regarding interest rate monopoly by borrowers related to education loans are incorrect. Because he saw that based on regulations, Pinjol had been supervised and was legally legal. So it is not relevant if it is linked to Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning Prohibition of Monopoly Practices and Unfair Business Competition.
As is known, Monopoly Practices as referred to in Law No. 5 of 1999 are the concentration of economic power by one or more business actors which results in control of the production and/or marketing of certain goods and/or services, giving rise to unhealthy business competition and can harm the public interest.
“If the institution providing it is a legal institution that has been authorized by an authorized institution, as long as that has been done, I don't think there will be a problem,” explained Aswanto, Thursday, (2/5/2024).
For your information, previously the KPPU in its official statement since February 2024, has carried out various in-depth studies on the issue of education loans. From this process, The results of the KPPU study show that loan business actors have set interest rates very high loans, much higher than bank loan interest rates, either productive and consumptive loans.
In this way, the KPPU suspects that loan business actors have carried out monopolistic practices and unhealthy business competition in the market. For this reason, on March 20 2024, KPPU decided to continue the study or research, by carrying out initial investigation to look for evidence of violations along with clarity on the alleged articles violation of Law no. 5 of 1999.
Based on this official statement, Aswanto actually felt that there should be many parties giving appreciation to P2P lending regarding the ease of providing educational loans to students.
“Philosophically, we should give appreciation, in fact the KPPU's statement that it has potential because the interest is high is the opposite because if the interest is high, then students won't want to take it, because our students are smart. If he says that because it's administratively easier, that's logical. But if “it is said that monopoly is somewhat gone,” explained Aswanto.
The current problem, continued Aswanto, is how to serve the needs of the community so that it does not become difficult. Because quite a few conventional banks are selective in providing loans.
“Don't just because the credit process at banks is stricter and more selective, then there is (P2P lending) which is easier then the interest is high and then it is considered a potential monopoly, I think missing,” he explained.
The reason is, said Aswanto, talking about philosophy starting from the constitution, implementing regulations to government regulations, there is no basis to say that the involvement of Financial Services Institutions to help students in difficulty is considered a monopoly.
“I have also read many regulations related to it, but have not found that it is not allowed,” concluded Aswanto.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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