Bank Indonesia introduced a new domestic credit card scheme and widened fee waivers on the country’s QR payment standard, both unveiled on August 17 to coincide with Indonesia’s 81st Independence Day. The moves extend the central bank’s push to route more retail payment volume through domestically processed infrastructure rather than international card networks, while cutting transaction costs for millions of small merchants.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Bank Indonesia launched Kartu Kredit Indonesia (KKI), a retail-segment domestic credit card, on August 17, 2026
- Eight payment service providers issued KKI at launch: Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, CIMB Niaga, Permata Bank, Bank Mega, and Bank Syariah Indonesia (sharia-compliant financing)
- KKI transactions are capped at IDR 10 million (approximately USD 560) per transaction and process entirely through Indonesia’s domestic payment infrastructure
- The card is initially digital-only and usable as a funding source for QRIS scan and tap transactions, with plans to expand to online payments and a physical card
- Bank Indonesia separately expanded its QRIS Merchant Discount Rate policy to 0% for all merchant categories on transactions up to IDR 100,000 (approximately USD 6), down from a prior 0.7% rate, effective October 1, 2026
- Micro merchants retain the existing 0% MDR rate on transactions up to IDR 500,000 (approximately USD 28)
- QRIS usage reached 65.77 million users and 44.86 million merchants as of June 2026, with small and medium enterprises accounting for 96.68% of the merchant base
A Domestic Alternative to International Card Networks KKI gives Indonesian consumers a deferred-payment credit facility that never touches Visa or Mastercard’s international rails. Users select the KKI facility within their bank’s app and scan or tap a merchant’s QRIS code to pay, with the purchase charged to their credit line and repaid on terms set by the issuing bank. Because settlement runs through Indonesia’s own payment infrastructure, the launch positions KKI as a domestic competitor to international card schemes for local transactions, and Indonesian coverage has framed it as a direct challenge to Visa and Mastercard’s share of the retail credit market. Individual credit limits are set by each issuing institution based on its own risk assessment rather than a uniform national ceiling.
Cutting Merchant Costs to Widen QRIS Acceptance The expanded MDR waiver targets the cost merchants pay per QRIS transaction, a fee that has been cited as a friction point for smaller businesses weighing digital payment acceptance. By dropping the rate to zero for small-value transactions across all merchant sizes, Bank Indonesia is betting that lower operating costs will translate into broader acceptance and higher transaction volumes. The bank reported that QRIS transaction volume reached 12.55 billion transactions in the first half of 2026, roughly double the prior year’s pace, suggesting the underlying payment rail already has substantial momentum ahead of the fee change.