Indonesians working in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore send money home on a scale that most banks have built whole divisions around. Bank Indonesia’s statistics, as relayed by Newswav in June 2026, put migrant-worker remittances in the first quarter of 2026 at about US$4.54 billion, a provisional figure. Malaysia alone accounted for roughly US$1.21 billion of that, Taiwan about US$801 million and Hong Kong about US$691 million.
If you’re one of the people behind those numbers, or you’re sending to one, this guide goes through the job in order. Five decisions, one comparison, one set of checks.
Step 1: Make sure the provider is licensed where you live
Start with who is handling the money, because the rules differ by place and so does your recourse.
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore licenses payment services under the Payment Services Act. Its description of the cross-border money transfer service covers inbound and outbound remittances involving Singapore, and even arrangements that connect parties in different countries when the money never touches Singapore.
Malaysia puts remittance under the Money Services Business Act 2011, supervised by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The central bank publishes a list of licensees and approved agents, and it says licensed premises must display their licence or an agent’s certificate.
Over in Hong Kong, anyone running a remittance or money-changing business needs a licence from the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, a regime that began in April 2012. Customs has also published enforcement cases against unlicensed operators, including a 2023 arrest of two grocery-store owners suspected of running a money service without a licence.
Practical step: check the provider’s name against the regulator’s public list before your first transfer. Takes two minutes. It’s the cheapest protection on offer, and it works the same whichever of the three places you live in.
One more detail from Malaysia’s side: a March 2022 finance ministry statement said Bank Negara Malaysia had set a limit of RM50,000 per day on an individual’s remittances. Treat that as a dated figure and ask your provider what applies now, but it’s a useful reminder that a large one-off send may need to be split or documented.
Step 2: Get the Indonesian side exactly right
Ask your recipient for a screenshot of their banking app or a photo of their card, not a voice message with the digits read out. You’ll need the account number, the bank name and, for some routes, the bank’s SWIFT code.
Names matter more than people expect. Bank Mandiri’s own incoming-remittance page, for example, says the beneficiary’s name must match the name recorded in the bank’s system and that errors or omissions can cause funds to fail. It also says the bank, a correspondent or the sending bank may ask the sender for extra information or documents. That’s one bank’s wording, but it’s a fair picture of how the others behave.
So use the name as the bank has it, which might be a single name without a surname, or two names in an order you wouldn’t guess. If your recipient isn’t sure, a quick look at the bank app’s profile screen settles it.
Step 3: Choose how the conversion happens
Conversion is where your money quietly shrinks, so it deserves a decision, not a default.
You have a Singapore dollar, ringgit or Hong Kong dollar balance. Your recipient wants rupiah. The cleanest route converts once, at one stated rate, and delivers rupiah. A messier route converts to US dollars on the way, or sends in your currency and lets the Indonesian bank convert at its own rate. Mandiri’s page says exactly this about incoming funds: if the currency sent differs from the account’s currency, the bank converts at its applicable rate.
Rule of thumb: pick a service that shows you the rupiah amount before you commit. If it shows only a fee and an “estimated” amount in your own currency, ask a question or walk away. The markup itself is explained in spread, markup and hidden fees.
Step 4: Compare rupiah delivered
Open two or three services. Type in the same amount. Write down the rupiah figure each promises, and ignore everything else on the page.
The World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database offers a rough benchmark. Its third-quarter 2025 averages for sending the equivalent of US$200 were:
| Corridor | Average total cost | Average fee | Average FX margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore to Indonesia | 3.23% | US$4.50 | 0.98% |
| Malaysia to Indonesia | 4.80% | US$4.53 | 2.54% |
We could not retrieve usable Hong Kong to Indonesia figures from the database, so none are quoted here. Averages are not quotes, either. The gap between best and worst service on a corridor can be wide.
Now an illustration. Suppose the mid-market rate is 1 MYR = 3,800 IDR (made up) and you’re sending RM1,500. At the mid-market rate that would be 5,700,000 rupiah.
Service A charges RM5 and takes a 1% margin: (1,500 – 5) x 3,800 x 0.99 = 5,624,190 rupiah. Service B advertises no fee and takes a 3% margin: 1,500 x 3,800 x 0.97 = 5,529,000 rupiah. The “free” option delivers 95,190 rupiah less, about RM25 at the illustrative rate. Do that monthly and it adds up to a decent phone bill.
You can check the real mid-market level any time on our MYR to IDR, SGD to IDR or HKD to IDR pages. Rates refreshed hourly.
Step 5: Count the zeros before you press send
This one sounds silly until it saves you. Rupiah amounts run to millions, and a rate of a few thousand per unit means one slipped digit changes the outcome by a factor of ten.
Before confirming, read the delivered amount aloud. Is it 5,700,000 (five million seven hundred thousand), or 570,000? Does it roughly equal your amount times the rate you saw on a converter? If not, stop.
Then run through this short list:
- Name matches the bank record, letter for letter.
- Account number matches the screenshot, digit for digit.
- The screen shows rupiah delivered, and you’ve saved it.
- You know whether the money goes by instant rail or a slower bank transfer.
Step 6: Expect different speeds, and plan for Eid
Indonesia’s instant payment system, BI-FAST, handles fast domestic transfers, and some Singapore services connect to it. As one example, a Singapore digital bank’s help page says its BI-FAST option for rupiah, open to its savings-account customers, is capped at SGD 1,000 per transfer and SGD 1,000 in total over a rolling 30 days. It also says some recipient banks can add one to two business days, and that wire and SKN transfers can be delayed further during the Lebaran holiday season. That is a single provider’s rule, not a national one, but it shows the kinds of limits you may meet.
So if the money is for a deadline (school fees, rent, a family event), send early. And before a major holiday, send earlier still. For general timing, our guide on how long international transfers take sets out why.
Informal agents: a short warning
Every one of these three hubs has a history of informal remittance, and every one has a licensing system aimed at it. Malaysia’s deputy finance minister said in March 2022 that the Money Services Business Act was being fine-tuned to tighten oversight of illegal remittances. Hong Kong has prosecuted unlicensed operators. Using an unlicensed agent leaves you with no regulator to complain to and, depending on the place, possible trouble of your own. For the general patterns, read sending money safely.
If a transfer stalls, the stuck-transfer guide lists who to ring first. Nothing in this guide is financial or legal advice; check rules with your provider.
Sources
- Indonesia migrant remittances hit US$4.54B in Q1 (Newswav, citing Bank Indonesia)
- Types of Payment Services (Monetary Authority of Singapore)
- Money Services Business (Bank Negara Malaysia)
- Money service operators required to apply for licence from Customs starting April 1 (Hong Kong Government)
- Hong Kong Customs arrests two suspected of operating money service without licence (Hong Kong Government)
- Incoming Transfer (Bank Mandiri)
- Remittance Prices Worldwide: Singapore to Indonesia (World Bank)
- Remittance Prices Worldwide: Malaysia to Indonesia (World Bank)
- How to send money to Indonesia (Mari Bank help centre)
- Act 731 to be fine-tuned to monitor illegal remittance activities (Ministry of Finance Malaysia)
Checked: November 2026
