Achmad Nurdany, a lecturer of Islamic Economics Study Program, FEBI, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, and Aziz Juniardy, a student at the Amikom University Yogyakarta, secured the 3rd place after competing with over 300 papers in the Non-Bank Financial Industry Paper Competition held by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in 2017.

The competition, commencing in March 2017, has chosen the top 6 nominees to present at the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta from Monday to Wednesday (12-14/06). The theme of this annual competition, now in its third year, is "Strengthening the Non-Bank Financial Industry (IKNB) Through Improved Governance and Risk Management Amid Business Expansion Opportunities."

Nurdany pointed out that the non-bank financial industry, particularly those engaged in technology-based financial services, commonly referred to as Financial Technology (FinTech), has undergone substantial growth. In fact, from 2015 to 2016, the FinTech sector experienced a 78% growth, a significant increase compared to previous years when growth did not exceed ten percent.

"The FinTech sector, whether we approve of it or not, necessitates oversight by OJK due to the similarity of its services to those of traditional financial institutions, coupled with the added value of utilizing information technology," he explained.

This prompted Nurdany to draft a paper on the Strategy for Improving the Governance of Start-Up Companies in the Financial Technology Sector through the Financial Management Information System (SIM-F). The fundamental concept is to streamline the workflow among financial supervisory institutions such as OJK and BI, FinTech Start-Up businesses, and the general public. This streamlining can be accomplished through an information system, known in this case as SIM-F.

On another occasion, Muliaman D Haddad, the Chairman of the OJK Board of Commissioners, stated during an award ceremony on Tuesday (13/06) that the FinTech industry currently comprises 165 businesses, with almost 50% of them involved in peer-to-peer lending.

"OJK will persist in seeking input from the public, particularly on the supervision of the financial industry. One method is by holding paper competitions like the one we have been conducting for the past 3 years. Alhamdulillah, we are delighted to see a tremendous increase in enthusiasm for this initiative," he concluded.