Want to start making online investments in Indonesia? Bareksa’s mutual fund marketplace is now live

Bareksa – one of Indonesia’s investment portal startups that synthesizes a trading platform for mutual funds with applicable editorial content and widgets for novice investors – took its mutual fund marketplace live today.

The mutual funds on Bareksa come from eight investment managers – both local and foreign – including CIMB-Principal Asset Management, Trimegah, Sinar Mas, Ciptadana, SucorInvest, and Mega Asset Management.

“It is the first integrated online marketplace for mutual funds in Indonesia,” explains Karaniya Dharmasaputra, founder and CEO Bareksa. “On the Bareksa platform, users can simultaneously access the information, analysis, news, data, and financial widgets, as well as buy and sell mutual funds online.”

To manage the marketplace, Bareksa has appointed Buana Capital, a securities company member of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). During the month of January, Bareksa will have a total of 47 mutual funds available on its marketplace. Currently, the funds available for trading on Bareksa include equity, mixed, fixed-income, money market, index, and Islamic mutual funds.

“Some other investment managers, both foreign and local, are conducting due diligence on our platform at the moment and have committed to join immediately,” says Dharmasaputra, who remains confident that Bareksa’s offerings are sure to grow.

See: Bareksa is Bloomberg for beginners, changes the game for online trading in Indonesia

Deposits vs mutual funds

Dharmasaputra hopes his mutual fund marketplace can also shift the mindset of Indonesia’s fiscally conservative society away from saving and toward investing. “It is not the time anymore to think that saving or depositing money into the bank will double our savings,” says the the founder and former CEO of local news portal VIVA. “Indonesia will definitely move to follow the path that has been taken by developed countries […] And the internet will be the accelerator.”

Last year’s bank deposit interest rates eroded due to inflation, according to Bareksa, and deposit rates are now well below the returns of mutual funds in Indonesia. Dharmasaputra says that in 2014, the index of mutual funds and the Sharia Stock Index on the IDX generated returns of about 24 percent.

Meanwhile, the average deposit rate at state banks during a 12-month period delivered an 8.7 percent return (based on October data from the Bank of Indonesia).