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ollaborations between traditional financial institutions and digital-based financial technology (fintech) firms are increasing as demand for fintech rapidly grows amid the urgent need to revamp financial service delivery in the nation.

Indonesian fintech firms generally seek collaborations to provide new types of services, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by global consulting firm Deloitte and the Indonesian Fintech Association.This is shown in the numerous partnerships announced recently that aim to further accelerate the growth of the industry.

Indonesia’s new fintech players desire to collaborate with existing service providers rather than compete with them, said Deloitte’s financial services strategy consultant Erik Koenen.

“This is [outlined] as such because fintech firms are still struggling to find the adequate resources and talent to support them,” he said at the Indonesia Fintech Festival and Conference at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition on Monday.

The multi-billion dollar fintech industry is flourishing in Indonesia, where a third of its 250 million citizens have access to internet but only a fifth of them have bank accounts or access to formal financial institutions. An estimated Rp 40 trillion (US$3 billion) of transactions took place in the industry in the past two years

For one, digital investment portal Bareksa and e-payment provider DOKU are poised to ink a partnership within the next three days that would allow DOKU users the option to invest their saved money on mutual funds with the click of a button on the DOKU app.

Bareksa co-founder Karaniya Dharmasaputra said the goal of the partnership was to foster more public education about mobile payments so that people would have a better idea of what to do with their money.

“Conventional financial institutions are also open to partnerships with fintech startups. This has become a shared problem,” he added.

Another partnership that was announced at the conference was between fintech firm Investree and lender Bank Danamon, which will be a strategic partnership on cash management systems.

The collaboration will adopt an automatic host-to-host system in real time that will accelerate the lending process in the verification, analysis and confirmation systems provided by Investree.

“In the invoice perspective, the fintech market value potential could reach $7 billion. The pie is large enough for fintech firms to collaborate with banks,” said Investree co-founder Adrian Gunadi, whose firm has lent up to Rp 17.5 billion as of August since starting operations in January.

Other notable recent collaborations include Bank Sinarmas’ Rp 10 billion investment in Modalku earlier this month, and Sinarmas’ ongoing partnership with QR-code based payment service DimoPay.

“We are focusing on ecosystem collaboration,” said Ajisatria Suleiman, the executive director of the Indonesian Fintech Association.

The Deloitte-Indonesian Fintech Association survey, which includes 70 fintech companies as respondents, also has three other takeaways for fintech firms in the country. First, they demand clear regulations to properly guide operations. Second, they struggle to find talent and third, most of their operations focus on financial inclusion.