Energy Crisis in Singapore
. The energy crisis in Singapore is no joke. One of the country's largest independent electricity retailers is planning to exit the market. Meanwhile, at least three other players have stopped accepting new clients amid skyrocketing wholesale energy prices.
In recent months, global wholesale gas prices have soared manifold. Production and transit issues reduce gas supply amid increasing demand due to the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. The energy market authorities in Singapore have finally spoken about several factors that have caused Singapore's spot electricity prices to soar. One of them is due to the reduced supply of gas from South Sumatra, Indonesia.
Singapore's electricity futures contracts, every month, have more than doubled since the start of the month. Meanwhile, electricity futures contracts every quarter are trading at the highest level since the contract was launched in 2015. Member of Commission VII DPR RI Mulyanto asked the government and Pertamina to prepare anticipatory steps against the threat of energy crises that occurred in several countries. "This LNG purchase plan is unusual considering that Singapore has well-maintained energy reserves," Mulyanto explained in an official statement in Jakarta. Mulyanto said the soaring gas prices in the international market did not rule out the possibility of making entrepreneurs take profit-taking actions, even though it caused domestic gas supply quotas for certain industries and electricity to be sucked in by exports. . If it is not tightened, it can threaten the security of our BBM and LNG supplies," said Mulyanto. Regarding the issue of fuel scarcity in North Sumatra, Mulyanto asked the government to immediately evaluate and launch the distribution of fuel so that this case does not spread to other areas.
Digital Bank Bidik Shopee, Tokopedia, GoFood, GrabFood
Senior economists who are members of the Indonesia Fintech Society (IFSoc) estimate that digital banks are increasingly massively integrating services with various ecosystems. Mainly, e-commerce such as Shopee, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak, as well as food delivery from GrabFood to GoFood. Chairman of the IFsoc Steering Committee Mirza Adityaswara said that this is one of the digital bank trends until 2025. "Digital banks will try to exist in the ecosystem. So, digital banks are targeting a group that has e-commerce or food delivery," he said in a virtual press conference. on Thursday (14/10). The former Senior Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) estimates that there are five trends in the digital banking industry, namely:
1. Integrating services with various ecosystems such as e-commerce and food delivery Mirza assesses digital banks will create their ecosystems if they do not connect their services to e-commerce and food delivery platforms. "They can also create ecosystems related to farmers, retail, education, and others," he said. Currently, several digital banks are intensively integrating services with various ecosystems, including social media platforms. Bank Aladin Syariah, for example, collaborated with Facebook Indonesia to target Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In June, KEB Hana Bank Indonesia collaborated with Japanese social networking and conversation platform LINE Corporation. Both launched the LINE Bank application in Indonesia. According to him, if you look at digital banks in other countries, the ecosystem is very important. For example, Kakaobank in South Korea, according to him, has succeeded in developing a digital bank because the ecosystem is already strong. Then Ant Group integrated with Alibaba e-commerce. The Chinese tech giant also has a wide range of services, including logistics.
2 Modern core banking
Mirza assesses that digital banks will focus on platform development.
3. The digital bank will be based on recommendations and advisory
That means digital banks must reach customers on time with the right recommendations as well.
4. Open banking
According to him, after digital banks develop, there will be massive inter-platform data exchange.
5. Focusing on an omnichannel strategy This means that digital banks will prioritize interaction with customers over transactions.
Mirza said that the potential for digital banks in Indonesia is huge. "The young generation is around 30 years old, can be young entrepreneurs or those who are technology-savvy or digital-savvy, so they are a potential market segment for digital banks," he said. Based on the results of the 2020 Population Census, Indonesia's population is dominated by generation Z and millennials. The population of Generation Z who was born around 1997 - 2012 reached 74.93 million or 27.94% of the total population. Meanwhile, the millennial generation population born between 1981 - 1996 reached 69.38 million or 25.87% of the total population. The details are as follows: Based on a study by Google, Temasek, and Bain 2020, the value of digital financial services in Southeast Asia is projected to reach US$ 38 billion to US$ 60 billion (Rp 554.2 trillion-Rp 875 trillion) per year by 2025. The digital financial services in question include banks. , Payment System Service Providers (PJSP), insurance, asset management to financial technology (fintech). Specifically, the business value of the digital payment sector in the region is estimated to exceed US$ 1 trillion by 2025. Moreover, Indonesians are now starting to switch to digital payments due to the corona pande.
