Akulaku office / Photo credit: Akulaku
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) has lifted restrictions on the buy now, pay later (BNPL) service of fintech firm Akulaku, the company told Tech in Asia.
“Akulaku PayLater as our BNPL product [is] again active to distribute financing to users and customers as before,” the firm said.
This comes over four months after OJK limited the operations of Akulaku in October over alleged violations to the supervisory obligations that the regulator requires of BNPL offerings. These also involve regulations on risk management and good corporate governance.
At the time, the company said its focus was to ensure “strict compliance with all regulations” set by OJK.
The new ruling is significant, as BNPL startups are struggling to stay on their feet in Southeast Asia.
Just last week, Singapore-based ShopBack announced that it would be discontinuing its BNPL service, PayLater. Last year Atome had also exited Vietnam, while online payment platform Pace filed for liquidation.
Aside from BNPL, Akulaku’s services include virtual credit cards, wealth management offerings, and digital banking services through Bank Neo Commerce.
Founded in 2014, Akulaku has raised US$530 million in disclosed funding so far, according to Tech in Asia data. Backed by companies like Ant Financial, Akulaku is also present in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
See also: BNPL’s future on a knife-edge as ZestMoney averts shutdown
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Jaclyn Tiu
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