Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority, known locally as OJK, has appointed Friderica Widyasari Dewi as chair.
The first woman to head the financial regulator, she succeeds Mahendra Seregar, who resigned in January when the stock market plunged after index provider MSCI warned it may cut the weighting of Indonesian equities in its emerging-market indexes and downgrade the country to a frontier market.
Friderica has been a member of the OJK’s board of commissioners since 2022. The regulator announced her appointment as chair in a statement on March 13.
A veteran of the financial industry, she was chief executive officer of local mutual fund firm BRI Danareksa Sekuritas before joining the OJK board. She has also held senior management roles at the Indonesian central depository and stock exchange.
She acted in several local television dramas before entering the financial industry more than 20 years ago.
