Bank Indonesia has been stepping up monitoring of banks foreign-exchange dealings to ensure transactions are conducted for commercial rather than speculative purposes, sources said. Indonesias central bank has been tightening oversight of Wall Street lenders and local financial institutions as it tries to stem the rupiahs decline and support Southeast Asias largest economy, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bank Indonesia has been stepping up monitoring of banks foreign-exchange (forex) dealings to ensure transactions are conducted for commercial rather than speculative purposes, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. That is in line with recent central bank announcements that it would strengthen oversight of banks and companies with high US dollar-purchasing activities. At a dinner with bank chiefs in Jakarta last week, Bank Indonesia governor Perry Warjiyo told the executives that the central bank is monitoring seven lenders with high volumes of forex trading, without identifying them, some of the people said. Bank Indonesia also pressed international banks to bring more dollars onshore during other recent meetings, according to the people.

The increased oversight underscores the mounting concern among Indonesian officials about the rupiahs decline, which is part of a broader sell-off in the nations assets fuelled by worries over President Prabowo Subianto’s economic policies and exacerbated by the fallout from the Iran war. Warjiyo spoke with global investors this week after his central bank conducted a surprise interest-rate increase to shore up the currency, the worst performer in Asia this year.

When hiking rates, Bank Indonesia announced plans to intensify interventions to stabilise the rupiah, and to monitor banks and corporations that buy dollars in bulk to ensure they have underlying documentation to justify the purchases. The combined measures may be starting to pay off, with the rupiah headed for its best week since Oct 3.

The central bank has already been sending officials to dealing rooms to monitor forex transactions and ensure any dollar buying is carried out with appropriate documentation, some of the people said. For large greenback purchases, dealers will immediately get a phone call from the central bank to ask for the details of the transaction, including who the clients are and the underlying reason for the trade, one of the people said. Banks are prohibited from holding long positions in the dollar and from taking speculative bets, the person added.

Source : finance.yahoo.com

Jun 13th, 2026