Consumer Protection Must Be a Priority in KPPU-Pindar Dispute Resolution

The policy of imposing upper limits on economic benefits within the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry, implemented through its association, was born as a response to requests from the Financial Services Authority (OJK). This was intended to establish interest rate ceilings, aiming to protect the public from the risks of high-interest practices or predatory lending.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) considers such price-setting regulations to be price-fixing agreements that contravene competition law. In its ruling, the KPPU concluded that 97 online lending providers were proven to have violated Article 5 of Law Number 5 of 1999, with varying fines imposed on each company.

Responding to this, Hari Prasetyo, an academic from the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia (FH UI), expressed hope that in the upcoming verdict hearing, the panel of judges would decide the case by examining who benefits most from the interest rate restrictions.

“The judges must consider, in a condition where there are no interest rate limits, which option is more beneficial for consumers or the public,” Hari stated in his remarks on Thursday (1/10/2026).

“Whether the association limits the interest rates, or whether rates can go as high as possible because there are no limits? The interests of consumers are crucial to examine in the context of this case,” he added.

Hari, who teaches State Administrative Law at FH UI, explained that the actions of an association regulating an industry cannot automatically be categorised as a cartel. Under certain conditions, such as when the state has not yet regulated or established specific standards, he argued that the industry cannot be blamed for implementing certain limits or standards.

When the state adopts industry standards into more binding regulations, Hari referred to this as a common process known as ‘norming’.

Norming is a government action intended to reduce negative externalities from an industry by creating rules based on values or practices already existing within that industry. The objective is to ensure that the industry’s negative externalities do not worsen in the future.

“In this case, the OJK is attempting to ensure that the externalities of online loan interest rates do not have an increasingly negative impact on the public. The OJK also requested that the association establish loan interest rate limits,” said Hari.