In brief: Indonesian telco, state banks merge payments to challenge Go-Jek, Ovo

• Four Indonesian state-owned banks and the country’s biggest telecommunications company are merging their mobile payment services to challenge Go-Jek and Ovo, the two dominant players in Indonesia’s rapidly growing digital payments market.
• The new platform, called LinkAja, will let users make cashless payments through QR codes, top-up balances via convenience stores and ATMs, and pay bills, without requiring a bank account. It is slated to start in March.
• The digital service is expected to eventually expand beyond payments into other financial services such as insurance.
• The merge reflects a growing concern over the threat posed by the aggressive expansion of private companies into financial services in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review