Major Challenge for Islamic Finance: High Literacy, Low Access
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has disclosed that the level of Islamic financial literacy in Indonesia is higher than that of conventional finance.
Head of the Executive for Supervision of Financial Services Business Actors’ Behaviour, Education, and Consumer Protection (PEPK) Dicky Kartikoyono stated that Muslims’ understanding of Islamic financial economics is actually quite good.
He explained that, based on the National Survey on Financial Literacy and Inclusion (SNLIK), the Islamic financial literacy rate is 43.4%.
For information, literacy refers to an individual’s level of understanding or knowledge about products and services, while inclusion is the level of actual access and use of those products or access.
“The literacy is 43.4. However, inclusion remains low. What does that mean? Muslims have a good understanding of Islamic financial economics,” he said at the Closing Event of the Genyar Ramadan Islamic Finance 2026 in Jakarta on Friday (2/4/2026).
Conversely, Dicky noted, for conventional finance, literacy regarding digital finance is still low, but inclusion is high.
“Because everything can be accessed via mobile phone. It’s very easy to borrow, but literacy remains a challenge,” he revealed.
Citing OJK data, the national financial literacy index was recorded at 66.46% in 2025 based on the sustainability method, up from 65.43% in 2024.
In detail, conventional financial literacy reached 66.45% and conventional financial inclusion reached 79.71%. Meanwhile, Islamic financial literacy is at 43.42% and Islamic financial inclusion is relatively low at 13.41%.
Dicky stated that this poses a challenge and task for financial regulators and financial services actors to conduct education and financial literacy for the public.
“This actually serves as capital for us in Islamic finance because the literacy is good. In relation to that, we certainly invite everyone to join together in the national smart finance movement,” he concluded.