Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) said 192 securities firms and investment managers have formally committed to operate under new capital and governance rules, the regulator's latest step to shore up a stock market that lost more than 40% of its value this year.

In a statement issued in Jakarta on Wednesday, OJK said that by Oct. 29 it had received commitments from 107 securities companies and 85 investment managers, each choosing the business tier it intends to qualify for. Firms have until April 2029 to meet the requirements that come with their chosen tier.

For investors in Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere who trade Indonesian shares and funds through local brokers, the exercise matters because it will decide which firms can underwrite offerings, broker trades and run money, and how much capital they must hold to do so. It also lands while index provider MSCI weighs whether to change Indonesia's market status, a review that has pushed foreign investors to scrutinize the quality of local market plumbing as well as share prices.

OJK sorts brokers and fund managers into tiers

The commitments follow two regulations issued this year: OJK Regulation No. 3 of 2026, which covers securities firms that act as underwriters and broker-dealers, and OJK Regulation No. 5 of 2026, which covers investment managers. Both rules raise the bar on capital, the quality of ownership and control, management, governance and risk management, with the aim of matching each firm's resources to the complexity of what it does, the regulator said.

Securities firms are grouped into tiers known by the Indonesian acronym PEKU, and investment managers into tiers called MIKU. The tier a firm qualifies for determines the business activities it may carry out. When the rules were issued in May, InvestorTrust reported that PEKU 1 firms are limited to marketing securities with paid-in capital of Rp1 billion, while PEKU 3, the broadest tier, requires Rp110 billion. Investment managers need Rp25 billion of paid-in capital for MIKU 1 and Rp50 billion for MIKU 2, which allows the full range of fund management activities.

Of the 107 securities firms, 74 chose PEKU 3, 22 chose PEKU 2 and 11 chose PEKU 1, according to OJK. Among the 85 investment managers, 70 chose MIKU 2 and 15 chose MIKU 1.

OJK described the commitments as a first step and said it would monitor each company's progress through the transition period, working with shareholders, management and industry associations. The regulator also said it was counting on shareholders to make sure their firms have enough capital, along with stronger governance and operational capacity.

The statement also set out follow-up steps after a number of violations involving securities firms. OJK said it had asked the firms concerned to strengthen staff supervision and training, beef up internal controls and compliance, examine the root causes of the breaches, and report the results and their remedial steps back to the regulator.

A heavy October for Indonesian markets

The reform push comes after a bruising month. The Jakarta Composite Index closed October at 5,057.05, down 16.70% in the month and 41.52% since the start of the year, according to OJK's monthly board meeting statement released on Nov. 5. Foreign investors were net sellers of Rp16.88 trillion of Indonesian stocks in October, up from Rp10.24 trillion in September. Capital Times reported earlier on how the index fell below 5,000 ahead of the MSCI review.

The regulator pointed to global uncertainty, shifting risk perceptions and MSCI's announcement of a consultation proposal on reclassifying Indonesia as factors behind the market's moves. MSCI's proposal to consider treating Indonesia as a standalone market has been the main overhang for local equities since it was published.

Bonds held up better. Foreign investors bought a net Rp9.55 trillion of Indonesian government securities in October, reversing a small net sale of Rp0.34 trillion in September, OJK said. Still, the Indonesia Composite Bond Index fell 1.75% in the month to 431.35, and government bond yields rose an average of 39.35 basis points, tracking higher yields globally.

Fund managers felt the pressure. Assets under management fell 1.70% in October to Rp978.33 trillion as of Oct. 30, and the net asset value of mutual funds dropped 2.66% to Rp620.14 trillion, with investors pulling a net Rp2.28 trillion, OJK data showed.

Trading did not dry up. Average daily equity turnover rose to Rp16.31 trillion in October from Rp14.94 trillion in September, and the number of capital market investors climbed by 1.38 million in the month to 33.55 million, up 64.75% this year.

Fines and enforcement

OJK has paired the structural rules with a run of penalties. In October alone it imposed Rp2.12 trillion in administrative fines on capital market violators, along with four licence revocations and two licence suspensions, according to the Nov. 5 statement.

Most of that came on Oct. 16: a Rp1.5 trillion fine over trading in shares of DSSA, plus Rp500 billion related to the initial public offering of BREN and Rp100 billion related to the IPO of CUAN. OJK said those fines were paid in full on Oct. 23 and Oct. 28. On Nov. 4, it ordered parties linked to trading in PANR shares to return Rp5.07 billion in unlawful gains and fined parties in a case involving the directors of BOGA Rp2.47 billion.

For the year through October, OJK said it had fined 169 parties a total of Rp2.23 trillion following case examinations, on top of separate fines for late filings.

The next checkpoint is OJK's next monthly board meeting statement, which will show whether foreign selling of Indonesian equities eased and how many more brokers and fund managers have filed their tier commitments.