19 OCT 2026 — Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) has fined unnamed parties a total of Rp2.1 trillion over trading in one listed stock and over how shares were handed out in two public offerings. The regulator said on 16 October that it found market manipulation in the trading of shares in PT Dian Swastatika Sentosa Tbk (DSSA), and misleading conduct by other parties in how shares were allocated in the public offerings of PT Barito Renewables Energy Tbk (BREN) and PT Petrindo Jaya Kreasi Tbk (CUAN). It has also frozen the individual licences of some directors of securities firms.
The fines fall on what OJK calls "pihak-pihak terkait", or related parties. The three listed companies are the issuers whose shares were examined. OJK's press release does not name a single person or firm that was penalised.
What OJK says it found in DSSA
OJK examined trading in DSSA shares from 2024 to 2026 for suspected breaches of Articles 91 and 92 of the Capital Market Law, read with the financial sector development and strengthening law (UUPPSK). It requested data from exchange members, traced the flow of funds and summoned at least 12 securities-firm directors, 15 individuals and 11 foreign legal entities.
The release says OJK found market manipulation in DSSA shares, carried out by individual and institutional clients through several exchange members. In our translation, the regulator described the conduct as "planned and structured" and said it pushed the share price up "quite significantly". OJK also said it found evidence of violations by directors of securities firms, which is why their personal licences were frozen. The release does not say how many directors are affected or which firms they work for.
One wording matters here. OJK uses the phrase "tindak pidana manipulasi pasar", which describes market manipulation as a criminal offence, yet the penalty it announced is administrative. The release does not say whether any case has been referred for prosecution.
How the BREN and CUAN offers were allocated
The second finding concerns the public offerings of BREN and CUAN, examined under Article 107 of the same law. According to OJK, the shares offered in both had been "planned from the start" for a group of parties linked to the controlling shareholder (our translation). The release does not identify the controlling shareholder or the parties.
OJK said some of those parties received very large allocations while obscuring who they were. The effect, it said, was to concentrate BREN and CUAN shares in a small group and limit the shares actually circulating in the market. For these two offers it summoned at least five directors of securities firms, three custodian banks and parties that received fixed allotments. It also said it found unlawful gains across all three cases.
Who pays, and who is not named
Hasan Fawzi, OJK's chief executive for capital market supervision, made the point about liability explicitly. The investment platform Bareksa reported that he said the fines were imposed on the parties that broke the rules and not on DSSA, BREN or CUAN as listed companies.
That leaves real gaps. OJK has not published the names of the fined parties, the split of the Rp2.1 trillion among them, or whether any of them intends to object. Nothing in the release is a finding against the three companies themselves, and none of the parties has been charged in court.
A day after MSCI's warning
The sanctions came one day after index provider MSCI opened a consultation on demoting Indonesia out of its Emerging Markets group into a Standalone Market. MSCI said market participants still saw "suspected coordinated trading behavior" and a "lack of evidence of meaningful enforcement", despite reforms such as disclosure of shareholders above 1% and a roadmap to a 15% minimum free float. It is taking feedback until 30 April 2027 and will decide by 30 June 2027. Unless the consultation shows clear improvement, MSCI said, it expects to go ahead.
OJK replied in a separate release the same day. "OJK is committed to continuing to strengthen law enforcement in the capital market in order to uphold market integrity," Hasan said, in our translation. The DSSA, BREN and CUAN release itself does not mention MSCI. It says sanctions have been imposed since January as part of the reform drive.
A market under heavy selling
Friday was a brutal session for Jakarta. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 11.57% on the day, ending at 5,185.10, after an 8.01% drop triggered a trading halt early in the day, according to a report in Investortrust. The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked MSCI why the consultation came before its November index review, which had been the expected checkpoint.
The same report quoted Angus Mackintosh, an analyst with Alethia Capital in Singapore, as saying Indonesia needed to impose heavy fines on those behind manipulation. OJK's fines came the same day. Whether they count as the "consistent implementation" MSCI asked for is a question only its consultation will settle.
What to watch next
How much this enforcement round changes depends on three open points. Will OJK publish the names of the sanctioned parties and the directors whose licences are frozen? Will the DSSA market-manipulation finding move from an administrative fine to a criminal case? And will MSCI treat the action as meaningful when it reviews feedback over the coming months? OJK says enforcement against the 835 parties so far this year is part of a reform drive that "will continue to be carried out consistently".
