Kathmandu, Aug. 24 -- The one-size-fits-all regulatory policy does not seem to work for savings and loans (S&L) cooperatives in Indonesia, and the country could benefit from Nepal's experience with small and medium enterprises.

In Indonesia, a small S&L cooperative which has less than Rp10 million (approximately $690) of assets has to complete on the same accounting report structure as larger institutions with more than $690 million of assets. To give context to the figure, an average labourer in 17 essential sectors in Indonesia makes about $290 a month.

If we are to enforce the same regulation and supervision for all the S&L cooperatives, the smaller businesses would not survive. On the other hand, if the rules are too lenient, they c...