Gen Z Men Dominate Online Loan Defaults, OJK Chief Speaks Out

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has highlighted that non-performing loans are dominated by young people. As of the first half of this year, defaults among the young in the online lending (pindar) industry were considerably high, amounting to nearly half of the total troubled outstanding loans.

Agusman, Executive Head of Supervision for Financing Institutions, Venture Capital Companies, Microfinance Institutions and Other Financial Services Institutions, said problem loans in the pindar industry in the first half of the year were dominated by people of productive age, with males making up the highest proportion by gender.

“Problem financing in the pindar industry as of July 2026 was dominated by the 19-34 age group, or Gen Z, accounting for 48.22% of total troubled outstanding loans. By gender, men dominated the troubled outstanding loans with a share of 54.22%,” he said in an official statement on Tuesday (15/9/2026).

Agusman revealed that OJK continues to monitor the development of pindar financing quality based on debtor characteristics.

In addition, pindar providers are being encouraged to improve the quality of credit scoring in granting financing, including through the application of risk management and the principle of prudence.

Previously, OJK had flagged the default rate of these online loans. As of March 2026, the problem loan rate in pindar was nearly twice as high as that of other non-bank financial industries. By comparison, gross non-performing financing (NPF) in multifinance stood at only 2.83%, and buy now pay later (BNPL) at 2.51%.

Meanwhile, outstanding financing in the online lending (pindar) industry was recorded as growing rapidly as of March, reaching above Rp100 trillion.