Bank Negara Indonesia eyes more Japanese clients

Stronger foothold in Japan's banking market.

Bank Negara Indonesia has secured a partnership agreement with Iyo Bank in pursuance of that objective.

Iyo Bank, the largest regional bank in Shikoku prefecture, became the 42nd Japanese regional bank to have signed a partnership agreement with BNI.

Abdullah Firman Wibowo, BNI’s international division head, said the cooperation agreement with Iyo Bank would enable BNI to provide more financial services to Japanese clients, especially those who had businesses in Indonesia.

Firman said that at least 63 of Iyo Bank’s corporate clients had business units in Indonesia, but none of them had used BNI’s banking services. He hoped that with the partnership, BNI would be able to attract more Japanese clients.

“Japanese firms always conduct their banking services based on references by local banks. They will never bank with an Indonesian bank if there is no reference from a local bank in Japan,” said Firman.

“With the signing of the agreement, we hope to attract at least 30 Iyo Bank depositors,” he added.

Besides the expected increase of deposit funds, Firman said he hoped the deal would boost BNI’s profits from fee-based banking services regularly carried out by Japanese firms in Indonesia, such as consumer banking and foreign exchange transactions.

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