Consumer Protection Towards Bank Deposit in Indonesia (Study on the Loss of Customer’s Funds in Maybank)

Abstract

In 2020 a customer of a renowned private bank reported that her deposit is missing from her accounts, there are two accounts which were made in 2014 and 2016. But she started to save money in 2015. By the time this case reported, her savings reached approximately 22,879 billion IDR. In November 2020, the bank posted a press statement on their website stating that the bank has reported and processed the complaint which was alleged to be a crime. And The Criminal Investigation Department established the Head of the branch office as a suspect. The investigation found out that the suspect has an account for collecting the customer’s money which he used for his personal needs. Later that year, the spokesperson of the bank clarified that they are willing to compensate the customer but only with 16,8 billion IDR, but that is not equal to the amount of money the customer has lost. This research rises problems such as: How is the responsibility of bank towards the loss suffered by the depositing customers? and how are the legal protections given to the depositing customers who lost their money? In this normative research, conceptual approach will be used by analyzing the law and the application of it, this writing will use the study of literature and documents, where the materials will be collected by studying books, journals, laws and regulations related to the banking and financial consumer protection. The result shows that the bank is responsible for the injury it’s caused to its customers even when the actions is committed by its employee, this transfer of responsibility is given through the vicarious liability principle, therefore, the bank has the obligation to recompense the victim. As for the legal protections, the law has provided adequate protections for bank’s customers, it's just that due to the lack of enforcement those protections do not seem to be able to protect the customers properly. Consequently, banks who are responsible for their employees should improve their internal supervision and security so the actions of their employees wouldn’t harm their customers. And the protection to the customers who lost their money, should be enforceable to the responsible parties, this way the customer can have their possessions back.