Jakarta, Sept. 8 -- Indonesia is developing a system to automatically provide bank accounts to citizens at age 17, using national identity data to expand financial inclusion and improve social-assistance distribution.

At President Prabowo Subianto's direction, state-owned lenders Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Syariah Indonesia are developing digital applications to create accounts linked to civil-registration data.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto announced the plan on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting on financial literacy and inclusion.

He said the applications being developed by BRI and BSI would use citizens' National Identity Numbers, or NIKs, to facilitate account creation.

Airlangga said President Prabow...