Bank Indonesia plans to let financial firms use QRIS data, the transaction records of the national QR payment standard, to assess the creditworthiness of small merchants, Governor Destry Damayanti said in Jakarta on October 26.
Destry made the remarks at the Danantara Technology Innovation Investment Forum 2026. The proposal has circulated since 2025 but has not been put into practice, and she gave no start date. She described the merchant data as something that could become a form of credit scoring for small sellers who now take payments through QRIS. The figures she and Bank Indonesia gave:
- 71 million QRIS users, up from 67 million in September 2026
- 49.4 million merchants, 97% of them micro, small and medium-sized enterprises
- QRIS transaction volume up 75.8% year on year in the third quarter of 2026
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) welcomed QRIS records as alternative data for credit assessment, including by online lenders, in late 2025. OJK official Agusman said at the time that the approach needed further study, with attention to personal data protection, data validity and prudential principles.
Why it matters: Most of the 49.4 million QRIS merchants are micro businesses with thin or no credit files, so their QR sales records are often the only verifiable account of their cash flow. Opening that data to lenders would let banks and licensed online lenders price working capital loans on observed sales. The open questions are the ones OJK raised: customer consent, data accuracy and which institutions get access.
Source: CNBC Indonesia, October 26, 2026; ANTARA, October 26, 2026
Image: NFarras, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
