Bank Indonesia Strengthens Central Banking Services Through CB Fest 2026

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – The expansion of cross-border economic and financial connectivity requires reliable, efficient, and secure central banking services to support smooth transactions, financial management, and policy implementation. This aligns with the central bank's role in maintaining not only price and exchange rate stability, but also financial stability, payment system reliability, and sustainable economic growth.

Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Thomas Djiwandono stated, "Policy credibility must be supported by operational credibility."

At the opening of the Central Banking Services Festival (CB Fest) 2026 at the Kempinski Hotel in Jakarta on Monday, 28 September 2026, Thomas stated that the development of cross-border economic and financial activities must be backed by dependable, efficient, and secure central banking services. These services encompass monetary operation settlements, foreign exchange reserve management, international financial cooperation, gold reserve management, as well as services for the government and the financial industry.

In this context, Bank Indonesia provides services to the government, including government account administration, fund transfers and transaction settlements, and the administration of government foreign debt. Meanwhile, for the financial industry, Bank Indonesia handles the settlement of securities transactions in Rupiah and foreign currencies.

The expansion of cross-border economic and financial connectivity is reflected, among other things, in the continuously expanding Local Currency Transaction (LCT) cooperation. LCT encourages the use of local currencies in bilateral transactions, thereby supporting external resilience and exchange rate stability while facilitating trade and investment with partner countries.

Currently, Indonesia has implemented LCT cooperation with seven partner countries: Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore. In the first semester (H1) of 2026, the value of LCT transactions reached US$$11.72 billion in the same period of 2025, and has already surpassed the full-year 2025 achievement of US$25.74 billion. This cooperation continues to be expanded with other partner countries.

CB Fest 2026 revolves around the theme of “Strengthening Financial Services Resilience Amid Escalating Geopolitical Risk to Support Economic Growth.” The discussions featured geopolitical and economic experts from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), technology academics from the Bandung Institute of Technology and the University of Melbourne, as well as financial sector data and analytics practitioners from Deloitte and J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific.