Thekabarnews.com—At the beginning of 2026, the Indonesian banking sector experienced a rapid increase in foreign currency (valas) savings accounts. However, the overall value of deposits increased only slightly.

The growth was mainly driven by retail clients opening smaller accounts in foreign currencies to hedge against rupiah volatility. It was not driven by large institutional deposits.

The number of foreign currency accounts in banks stood at 7.67 million as of February 2026. This was up 50.8 percent from a year earlier, the Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) reported.

But the total value of foreign currency deposits in the same period rose only 2.1 percent to Rp1,487 trillion.

The difference between the increase in numbers of accounts and the overall value of deposits suggests more people are opening forex accounts. However, they are keeping fairly small amounts.

The pattern is quite different from that of rupiah savings accounts.

Based on the LPS data, the number of rupiah deposit accounts also rose 9.8 percent year on year to 669.8 million accounts. Meanwhile, the total nominal value of rupiah deposits grew much faster at 14.6 percent year on year.

Analysts say it shows a different behavior between holding the money in local currency and holding it in foreign currency.

“The trend shows that retail clients are increasingly holding funds in foreign currencies as a hedge against exchange rate swings,” said Myrdal Gunarto, Global Markets Analyst at Maybank Indonesia.

“Retail customers are holding foreign currency funds in anticipation of rupiah swings, but in minimal amounts. They’re not necessarily moving big chunks of cash to foreign currencies, but they’re positioning defensively, financially, concerned about the rupiah,” he said.

Foreign currency accounts, notably in U.S. dollars, are popular personal hedging instruments during times of global economic uncertainty. This includes periods with rising geopolitical tensions and stress on emerging market currencies.

The US monetary policy, oil prices, and regional geopolitical threats are the drivers of global markets. Many middle-income consumers prefer to diversify their assets and not put all their money into rupiah.

The trend continued into 2026, with further external pressures on the world’s financial markets.

The increase in foreign currency accounts isn’t always a sign of panic. Instead, it is a sign of individuals and small investors planning their finances more carefully.

And it also creates new issues for banks in terms of liquidity management and foreign exchange exposure.

But for customers the message is clear: Diversity is an increasingly important way to protect purchasing power in unpredictable economic situations.

The rapid growth of FX savings accounts shows that many Indonesians are not waiting for pressure on the currency to happen. Instead, they are preparing for it in advance.

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