Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) is preparing a regulation for the demutualisation of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), with state institutions including Danantara, the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia being considered as potential shareholders under the new structure.
OJK is targeting the finalisation of the regulation in the third quarter of 2026, Hasan Fawzi, the regulator’s executive head of capital markets, derivatives and carbon exchange supervision, said on Monday.
The regulator has completed its internal approval process for the draft and is now refining the legal text before releasing it for public consultation, Fawzi said on the sidelines of an event at the IDX in Jakarta.
OJK will also seek views from the government, IDX members, self-regulatory organisations and industry associations as part of the consultation process.
Under Indonesia’s Financial Sector Development and Strengthening Law No. 4 of 2026, Danantara Indonesia, the Finance Ministry, and Bank Indonesia are among the parties specifically allowed to become shareholders in the exchange once the demutualisation takes place.
OJK has started discussions with the three institutions to gauge their interest in becoming initial shareholders alongside existing IDX members.
“I think, in general, yes, they are interested,” Fawzi said, while noting that each institution would need to follow its own internal process before allocating funds to take a stake in the exchange.
Danantara may have greater flexibility than the two other institutions because it has investment activities within its mandate. This could allow it to align its investment process more closely with the planned demutualisation timeline.
Under the proposed framework, ownership of IDX shares would also be separated from exchange membership. This means shareholders would not necessarily need to be exchange members and exchange members could retain their trading rights without holding shares in the exchange. Trading access would remain limited to licensed exchange members.
Strategic investors
The new structure could also open the exchange to strategic investors, including state institutions, with OJK considering exemptions from the general ownership limit for parties that meet specific criteria.
Such investors would need to demonstrate how a significant stake would benefit the exchange, including through potential partnerships with other regional and global exchanges and the development of Indonesia’s capital-market infrastructure.
“Their presence should genuinely bring benefits in terms of modernising the exchange, opening access to strategic partnerships with other exchanges in the region and globally, and strengthening the capacity to develop the exchange and the industry going forward,” he said.
OJK is considering a general ownership cap that would prevent any shareholder from becoming a controlling shareholder. However, parties meeting the criteria for strategic-partner status could potentially receive special approval to hold a stake above the general limit.
He said this approach was broadly in line with other markets that have undergone demutualisation, where a general ownership ceiling is combined with provisions allowing strategic investors to receive special approval.
The reform comes as OJK seeks to deepen Indonesia’s capital market and increase participation from domestic institutional investors. Fawzi said domestic institutional investors currently account for around 8% of market participation, and the regulator hopes to raise this to at least 25% over time.
He identified domestic institutional investors — including insurers, pension funds and corporate treasuries — as an important source of longer-term capital for the market, given their investment horizons.
