The Indonesian parliament has created a new financial services authority that will supervise all financial activities in the country by 2013.

Called the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK, the new entity will supervise not just the banks, brokerages and insurance firms covered by Bank Indonesia, the central bank, but also activities of Bapepam-LK, the capital market watchdog. The OJK is patterned after the Financial Services Authority of the UK. 

It will be led by Mulaiman Hadad, deputy governor of the central bank, as chairman. Hadad has held this role since 2006.

The decision to create a new regulatory body was approved by the parliament in 2011 in response to the collapse and shutdown of many Indonesian financial institutions at the height of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The central bank has been effecting policy changes since then, resulting in fewer banks suffering during the 2008 global crisis. 

Employees at both Bank Indonesia and Bapepam-LK will be asked to work for the OJK.