Not Just Tightening Procedures: What Banks Must Do to Prevent the Rp 28 Billion Church Fund Embezzlement Case from Recurring
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Banking experts agree that banks must strengthen internal supervision to ensure that incidents similar to the embezzlement of Rp 28 billion from the Catholic Church of Aek Nabara Parish in North Sumatra by a bank employee do not recur.
Banking expert and Senior Vice President of the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI) Trioksa Siahaan stated that banks need to bolster internal controls and supervision to minimise the potential for misconduct by rogue employees.
“Mitigation steps from banks include strengthening internal controls and supervision of bank employees, and opening easily accessible complaint services for customers,” he told Kompas.com on Monday (20/4/2026).
In addition, banks must be more proactive in educating customers about banking programmes or products and remain vigilant against unreasonable product offers, including those promising high returns.
Meanwhile, Senior Analyst at the Indonesia Strategic and Economic Action Institution (ISEAI) Ronny P. Sasmita said that this case indicates gaps in banking governance and a lack of financial literacy among the public.
Therefore, mitigation efforts cannot be limited to merely tightening banking transaction procedures.
“This is not just about tightening procedures, but building a system that does not rely solely on individual integrity,” he told Kompas.com on Monday.
According to him, banks need to strengthen the internal control architecture through clear separation of functions between front office, middle office, and back office that are truly independent.
In addition, internal audits should be conducted not only routinely but also on a risk-based basis, as well as utilising data analytics-based fraud detection systems capable of reading suspicious transaction patterns in real-time.
Furthermore, Ronny stated that banks need to implement job rotations in sensitive positions and mandatory leave as instruments to break potential structured fraud schemes.
“If one person can control the flow from start to finish, that is not efficiency, but an open invitation to misconduct,” said Ronny.
Besides internal improvements, he also assessed the need for higher transparency in relations between banks and customers, particularly institutional customers such as foundations or religious organisations.
It should be noted that education is not sufficient at the time of account opening but must continue in the form of financial governance support.
Because many organisations are strong morally but weak in terms of financial control systems.
This gap is often exploited by unscrupulous individuals.
“Going forward, we also need to change our perception of banking that the strength of a bank is not just in interest rates or digital services, but also in how strongly they build trust based on systems, not just reputation through promotions and advertisements,” he concluded.