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Tag: Finance

  • SCB Easy Application on the Fritz Pending Upgrade

    SCB Easy Application on the Fritz Pending Upgrade

    Customers of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) might have recently found out the hard way that the SCB Easy App is on the fritz and hasn’t been working as properly as it should’ve been.

    SCB has already suspended the service of the app yesterday, in order to be able to properly update the system.

    According to SCB, the disruption of service was due to the increased use of system for financial transactions. However, the app will hopefully be up and running again by Sept. 10 after the system upgrade.

    Customers, fortunately, are still able to use the bank’s services through other channels, including their website: www.scbeasy.com

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  • Combo card will be tested in 40 cities

    Combo card will be tested in 40 cities

    The combo card that promotes non-cash social assistance will be tested in 40 cities until the end of 2016, Bank Indonesia (BI) has stated.

    If the trial goes off well, on January 1, 2017, the entire social assistance from the government can be channeled through the Family Welfare Card (KKS) Red and White combo device, Director of Elektronifikasi Program and Financial Inclusion of Bank Indonesia Pungky Purnomo Wibowo said Friday (September 2) night.

    “January 1, 2017, we apply all of the Family Hope Programs and the rice prosperous social assistance (Rastra). Further, the student aid program and the School Operational Assistance (BOS) will be around that time as well,” he said.

    The combo card can be used to avail the Rastra, and family expectations (PKH) aid, Pungky explained in the demonstration project or the pilot project.

    The combo card used in the “e-waroeng” (electronic shop and gotong royong/mutual help) are also agents of Financial Services Digital (LKD).

    The beneficiaries of social grants (bansos) bring the Cards Family Welfare (KKS) issued by the Bank to the new joint four, namely Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara, and Bank Tabungan Negara, and exchange it at “e-waroeng”.

    With the KKS, the public can receive Rastra basic foodstuffs such as rice, sugar, flour, and oil at subsidized prices.

    Furthermore, the combo cards can not only be used to get help in the LKD functions, but can also be used for transactions such as cash withdrawals or transfers, as well as saving money, such as bank function nirkantor (branchless banking), Pungky said.

    This combo card can make the distribution of social aid meet the rules of 6T – the right target, the right amount, the right price, right time, right quality, and right administration, Deputy Governor of BI Ronald Waas said on the occasion.

    The government budget for social protection in 2017 reached Rp158 trillion, the BI recorded. With that budget, social protection assistance would be effective and appropriate.

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  • Bank Indonesia still has chance to slacken its monetary policy

    Bank Indonesia still has chance to slacken its monetary policy

    Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Agus Martowardojo said the central bank still likely has a chance to relax its monetary policy in the second half of this year.

    “Seeing the condition in August, we can say that there is still a chance to slacken monetary policy but whether it will be carried out next September or October will depend on the data” the central bank governor said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

    BIs board of governors meeting on August 18-19 decided to maintain its 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate (BI 7-day RR Rate) at 5.25 percent with a deposit facility (DF) interest rate of 4.5 percent and lending facility (LF) being lowered by 100 basis points from 7.0 percent to 6.0 percent.

    BI began introducing the 7-Day RR Rate last April. At the BIs board of governors meeting on April 21, 2016, the BI Rate was fixed at 6.75 percent and the BI Repo Rate at 5.50

    Besides this, the BI also maintained a symmetrical and narrow interest rate corridor where the lower limit of DF Rate is set 75 basis points below the 7-Day RR rate and the upper limit of LF Rate is set 75 basis points above the 7-Day RR Rate.

    The decision is in line with the efforts to maintain the macroeconomic stability by continuously preserving the momentum of domestic economic growth amid weakening global economic performance.

    With macroeconomic stability, controlled inflation at targeted range, good current transaction deficit and stable currency rate, room for monetary relaxation is still open.

    The BI also continues to take abreast of short-term domestic global economic development, particularly the possibility for the Fed to raise its Fund Rate. “We wilL see it in September there will be flight to quality with regard to reports on the improvement of the United States economy.”

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  • Many foreign banks have not complied with SMEs credit policy

    Many foreign banks have not complied with SMEs credit policy

    Bank Indonesia said many banks mainly branches of foreign banks have not complied with the call for setting aside at least 10 percent of their credits for micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) .

    Head of Bank Indonesias division for development of SMEs Yunita Resmi Sari in Jakarta said despite facility such linkage branches of foreign banks are still in difficulty in extending credits for SMEs as asked by the central bank.

    “We are aware that foreign banks have limited networks of branches and their capacity is not for SMEs,” Yunita said here on Thursday.

    In 2015, the central bank asked banks to increase the portion of their credits for SMEs by 5 percentage points a year to 20 percent in 2018.

    Yunita , the central bank is preparing a policy on SMEs credits from foreign bank branches.

    Until August, this year, more than 100 of the 119 banks in the country already set aside 10 percent of their credits for SMEs.

    Yunita said the SMEs credit market is still wide open , pointing out only 22 percent of 57.8 million units of SMEs have access to bank credits.

    SMEs account only 19.7 percent or Rp827.3 trillion of the total outstanding credits of banks in the country by the end of the second quarter of 2016.

    The SMEs credits grew 8.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016.

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  • RHB Bank to assess opportunities in Indonesia

    RHB Bank to assess opportunities in Indonesia

    RHB Bank Bhd, which saw its bid to acquire a stake in Indonesia’s PT Bank Mestika Dharma Tbk fall through, is optimistic about the prospects in that country and and will assess the opportunities.

    Group Managing Director, Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli, said the Indonesian market was good with banks recording stronger credit growth and higher return on equity compared to Malaysia’s.

    It has been reported that, on average, an Indonesian bank’s return on investment was between 15% and 20% compared with Malaysia’s 9) and 11%.

    “(However) at this point there is nothing on the table for us to look at and when it does we will have to evaluate the opportunity,” he said after announcing RHB Bank’s first-half 2016 financial results here on Wednesday.

    He said the recent bilateral agreement signed between Indonesia Financial Services Authority (IFSA) and Bank Negara Malaysia would pave the way for banks to have greater access in both countries.

    In 2009, RHB Bank, which was then the banking unit of RHB Capital Bhd had, proposed to acquire 80 per cent of PT. Bank Mestika Dharma Tbk for RM1.16 billion but IFSA’s move to limit the foreign ownership to 40 per cent emerged as a stumbling block for the deal to be signed.

    The second bid to acquire a 40% stake, also fell through after RHB Capital did not get the Indonesian authorities’ approval before the deadline of the sales and purchase agreement on June 30, 2014.

    Also under its own corporate exercise, on April 14, 2016, RHB Bank emerged as the new group’s holding company and it was listed on Bursa Securities on June 28, 2016.

    For the first half-year ended June 30, 2016, its pre-tax profit fell by 12.7% to RM1.22bil due to a one-off impairment on a corporate bond in Singapore. For the first-half of 2015, it reported a pre-tax profit of RM1.40bil.

    Revenue for the six months of 2016, however, rose to RM5.42bil from RM5.37bil.

    Khairussaleh said the financial market would remain challenging due to the macro-economic uncertainties in most parts of the world.

    “The risks of external demands and softer consumer sentiments are expected to moderate Malaysias gross domestic product growth in 2016 to 4% from 5% last year.

    “The banking sector growth too is expected to remain modest, attributable to a deceleration in corporate loans market and ongoing consolidation of household loans sector,” he said.

    He said although the bank’s performance in the second quarter was affected by one large impairment on securities, RHB was on track to achieve its long-term objectives set under the reframed strategy of focusing on performance.

    For the second quarter ended June 30, 2016, pre-tax profit stood at RM469.33mil, down from RM724.9mil a year ago. Revenue increased to RM2.68bil from RM2.65bil previously.

    “The group will stay on course in executing the various initiatives under its transformation programme, while continuing to be vigilant amid a challenging macro environment and volatility in the market place,” he said.

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  • Indonesia launches master plan to breathe new life into Islamic finance sector

    Indonesia launches master plan to breathe new life into Islamic finance sector

    The Indonesian government has launched a national master plan to develop its Islamic finance industry, the latest effort aimed at awakening what is still a niche sector in the world’s most populous Muslim country, Reuters news service reported.

    Islamic finance was introduced in Southeast Asia’s largest economy more than two decades ago but it has managed only modest gains in the country of 250 million, despite multiple regulatory efforts and grassroots initiatives.

    Indonesian Islamic banks hold roughly 5 percent of total banking assets, compared with more than 20 percent in neighbouring Malaysia and about a third of total banking assets in several Gulf countries. The government aims to drive its planned breakthrough via a range of initiatives, from mobilising Islamic charitable funds to modernising investments made by Indonesia’s pilgrims’ fund.

    “This could finally awaken Islamic finance in Indonesia to allow the country to claim its true potential,” managing director of IFAAS Farrukh Raza said, an Islamic finance consultancy which designed the 10-year master plan. “We found that government efforts are very comprehensive but also very scattered. Regulations are there but there is no coordination, promotion is fragmented and those expenses are not always bearing fruit.”

    The initiatives include a government policy to increase use of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, by issuing debt instruments related to infrastructure development, agriculture and education. Under the policy, the government would increase its use of Islamic debt instruments to as much as 50 per cent of total issuance in 10 years time, Raza said.

    Currently, Islamic instruments represent around 13 percent of total outstanding government debt, according to Thomson Reuters data. Indonesia’s pilgrims’ fund would also see the establishment of a dedicated asset management arm to implement a more rigorous investment policy and attract external fund managers.

    The fund receives an estimated $800 million every year from Indonesians wishing to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, with new applicants facing a quota backlog of around 15 years, Raza said. “The industry is overconcentrated in retail but there is little in terms of wholesale banking. That is one of the big show-stoppers,” said Raza.

    The establishment of a national coordination committee, possibly chaired by Indonesia’s President Jokowi, Raza said, would help ensure implementation of longer-term objectives, potentially seeing Islamic finance take as much as a 20 per cent share of the financial sector in 10 years time. An additional layer of more complex measures, such as the merger of several state-owned Islamic banks, could help raise that figure to 30 per cent, Raza added.

  • UOB Indonesia and ITB join up to train SME bankers

    UOB Indonesia and ITB join up to train SME bankers

    UOB Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have joined forces to educate bankers with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a banker from UOB Indonesia has said.

    “A lot of these SMEs don’t have the right networks for distributors and suppliers and bookkeeping is essential,” UOB Indonesia business banking head Lawrence Loh said in Jakarta on Friday.

    The program, called the SME Bankers’ Executive Certification Program, was launched in March and already has 23 graduates, Loh said.

    The collaboration between the two institutions will inaugurate five new SME business centers in several cities across Indonesia such as Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya next year, ITB school of business and management consultancy director Leo Aldianto said.

    “We have to help small businesses upgrade their level to medium,” Leo said.

  • Bank Mandiri to grow Malaysian operations

    Bank Mandiri to grow Malaysian operations

    PT Bank Mandiri Tbk, Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, could soon operate here with full banking rights.

    The move comes after financial authorities from Indonesia and Malaysia signed a bilateral agreement earlier this week, allowing greater access to lenders from both countries to fully operate in the respective jurisdictions.

    Bank Mandiri would pay RM100mil (US$24.6mil) to Malaysia’s central bank as soon as possible and meet the capital requirement of RM300mil by the end of this year so that it could operate soon after the permit is issued by Bank Negara.

    Bank Mandiri currently operates in Malaysia under the licence of remittance office. It has five remittance offices in the country that focus on revenue generated from Indonesians working here.

    Papers in Jakarta reported that the bank planned to immediately apply for a full licence in Malaysia, following the bilateral agreement.

    To recap, the Malaysian authorities had issued a commercial banking licence to five foreign banks, including Bank Mandiri, in 2009-2010 in line with the country’s liberalisation of the financial services sector. Apart form Bank Mandiri, the other recipients were Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp of Japan, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and BNP Paribas SA, France, and Mizuho Corporate Bank.

    However, Bank Mandiri’s expansion into the Malaysian market had met with little success because the requirements for the full banking status set by Bank Negara were “too restrictive”, reports had indicated. It was previously quoted as saying that Bank Negara had not responded to its requests for a degree of leeway.

    Foreign banks, under Bank Negara’s funding guidelines, must have a minimum capital, unimpaired by losses, of RM300mil.

    Based on earlier Indonesian news reports, Bank Mandiri was adamant that the amount be lowered to RM100mil.

    The reports also stated that Bank Mandiri was not too happy with the other conditions set by Bank Negara, which included the number of branches and automated teller machines allowed to be opened by foreign banks.

    A main complaint among Bank Mandiri and other Indonesian lenders wanting to open their branches in Malaysia is the “inequality of access” in the two markets. The Indonesian Government had been demanding Malaysia reciprocate the banking freedom its banks enjoy in Indonesia.

    Two Malaysian banks that had established a significant presence in Indonesia are CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank).

    CIMB Group owns 97.9% of PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk, which is Indonesia’s fifth-largest bank by assets. Maybank, meanwhile, operates in Indonesia via 80%-owned PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk.

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  • ‘Bilateral agreement will give players greater banking access’

    ‘Bilateral agreement will give players greater banking access’

    Top Malaysian financial players with a presence in Indonesia lauded the bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia, saying it will pave the way for greater access to conventional and Islamic banking. CIMB Group chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the agreement is positive for the banking industry of both countries. “It is an additional impetus for CIMB Group to expand its business in Indonesia, particularly in the Islamic and consumer segments, where there are a lot of growth opportunities, given Indonesia’s 260 million population.

    “We also view the agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia as an important step towards better Asean economic integration, paving the way for CIMB to continue delivering its universal banking proposition for customers in the region.” Bank Negara Malaysia and Otoritas Jasa Keuangan of Indonesia have signed the agreement which will provide more access and operational flexibility for Malaysian and Indonesian Qualified Asean Banks operating in the respective jurisdictions. The agreement permits the formation of three banking groups that meet stipulated criteria to be classified as one of the Qualified Asean Banks, which would be afforded equal treatment as local lenders.

    CIMB is eyeing further growth in its banking franchise. Its subsidiary, CIMB Niaga, is ranked as one of the top five banks in Indonesia by asset size, with a current customer base of 3.6 million. It recently posted strong first-half results. RHB Banking Group said a commercial banking presence in Indonesia remains a priority in its overseas expansion plan, adding that it will complement its existing business in the country. “From a merger and acquisition aspect, we will keep an opportunistic mind to ensure the right time, price and strategic fit into our overall group strategy to deliver better value to stakeholders,” said group chief strategy and transformation officer Christopher Loh. Islamic finance is a significant area of potential growth in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, he pointed out.

    “Malaysia, being at the forefront of Islamic finance, could provide expertise to grow this sector, which spells an opportunity for Indonesia as the government aims to deepen the country’s Islamic banking sector. ” RHB has about 14 branches across Indonesia dealing with securities and asset management business. Affin Hwang Capital banking analyst Loh Jia Ying said one more banking licence is available for Malaysian banks to expand into Indonesia, adding that it is also possible that the central bank of Indonesia may allow the Malaysian bank to acquire one of the Indonesian banks. On the impact of the agreement, he said it would be minimal in the near term for Maybank Indonesia, CIMB Niaga and the Indonesian banking sector.

    As for state-owned Bank Mandiri’s keen interest to expand in Malaysia, Loh said although the bank may have the advantage of familiarity for Indonesians here, its profitability may be limited if it focuses only on Indonesian workers, unless there is a significant change in their behavioural patterns. Bank Mandiri, the largest Indonesian bank by assets, currently has five remittance offices in Malaysia, and focuses on the revenue generated from Indonesians working here. It will also have to undertake significant work to generate more revenue from the Indonesian workers and will be limited by the smaller number of branches.

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  • CIMB’s Indonesian unit posts big jump in profit

    CIMB’s Indonesian unit posts big jump in profit

    CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s 97.9% owned Indonesia-based subsidiary PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk, boosted its unaudited consolidated net profit by 318.2% to 736 billion rupiah (RM228.4mil) for the six-month period ended June 30, 2016 (H1).

    The fifth largest bank in Indonesia by assets said in a statement that the higher net profit, which translated to earnings per share of 29.29 rupiah, was due to a 4.8% rise in net interest income (NII) to 5.81 trillion rupiah (RM1.81bil), a 24.1% jump in non-interest income to 1.46 trillion rupiah (RM453mil) and a 7.9% fall in provision expense.

    Its president director Tigor M. Siahaan said: “Despite the challenging environment, our H1 top line performance continued to improve. The 4.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) NII growth was recorded against a decline in interest expense, while non-interest income was 24.1% higher y-o-y due to better treasury and capital markets businesses.”

    He said CIMB Niaga maintained good control over its operating expenses which fell by 1.2% y-o-y.

    “In addition, the provisions for non-performing loans had gradually improved.”

    As the bank retained a conservative growth strategy, total gross loans were lower y-o-y at 175.34 trillion rupiah (RM54.41bil) as at June 30.

    Despite the slower overall growth in CIMB Niaga’s loans, selected business segments recorded encouraging performance.

    The personal and multipurpose loans business grew 9.2% y-o-y through the bank’s X-tra Dana product, while the credit card segment posted a 25.5% y-o-y growth to 7.18 trillion rupiah (RM2.23bil).

    As at end June 2016, the bank had issued over 2.1 million credit cards, an increase of 13.4% from a year earlier.

    To date, CIMB Niaga is the third largest credit card issuer in Indonesia, in addition to being the fifth largest bank with total assets of 239.38 trillion rupiah (RM74.33bil).

    Its current account savings account (CASA) grew 5.7% y-o-y to 93.21 trillion rupiah as at June 30, with the CASA ratio rising 457 basis points (bps) y-o-y to 51.99%.

    The loan to deposit ratio was higher at 96.54% at end-June 2016 compared to 95.81% in the same period last year.

    The Indonesian government has appointed CIMB Niaga as a perception bank assigned to accommodate funds repatriated by taxpayers who are participating in Indonesia’s tax amnesty programme.

    “With additional liquidity available through the programme, the national banking industry, CIMB Niaga included, will have greater capacity to disburse loans to various sectors,” Tigor said.

    CIMB Niaga’s capital adequacy ratio strengthened y-o-y to 17.62% as at June 30.

    “We will continue to selectively increase our assets with a key focus on cost management and asset quality.

    “We started 2016 on a more positive note and seen the potential of gradual improvement in the second half of the year, backed by numerous macroprudential government fiscal and monetary policies to stimulate sustainable economic growth,” added Tigor.

  • India’s YES BANK taps Gemalto for secure m-payments

    India’s YES BANK taps Gemalto for secure m-payments

    India’s YES BANK has deployed Gemalto technology to secure mobile payment transactions for its customers under India’s recently implemented Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

    YES BANK, India’s fifth largest private sector bank, has adopted Gemalto’s SafeNet Network HSM for the purpose.

    UPI, India’s online payments solution, enables all account holders to send and receive money from their smartphones with a single identifier – such as mobile number or virtual payments address – without entering any bank account information.

    The SafeNet Network HSM (formerly SafeNet Luna SA HSM) provides end-to-end data security and encryption to protect user credential confidentiality and the private keys responsible for digital signing.

    “With a widespread network of over 860+ branches and 1,625+ ATMs Pan India, we’re committed to taking a customer-centric approach to our banking services,” said Anup Purohit, CIO at YES BANK.

    “The Unified Payments Interface offers clients revolutionary convenience when it comes to banking and payments, and we want to ensure the highest levels of security for users of the platform. We’re thrilled to integrate Gemalto’s industry-leading SafeNet HSM technology into the UPI application to support this initiative.”

  • BCA records profit of Rp9.6 trillion

    BCA records profit of Rp9.6 trillion

    PT Bank Central Asia Tbk. (BCA) made a net profit of Rp9.6 trillion in the first semester of this year, reflecting a growth of 12.1 percent year-on-year, mostly from interest income following the bright growth of corporate credits.

    BCA President Director Jahja Setiaatmadja said here on Wednesday that although domestic economic condition was still in the process of recovering, corporate credits had contributed the highest to the growth reaching 19.6 percent year-on-year or Rp135.4 trillion.

    Commercial and small and medium credits on the other hand have been the biggest portfolio but their growth was only recorded at 6.5 percent or Rp146.5 trillion while consumer credits were up 9.1 percent year-on-year, reaching Rp105.2 trillion.

    “We indeed saw that demand is still slow, but thanks to our efficiency and growth of transaction accounts, the business has registered a boost,” he added.

    In the consumer line, housing credits rose by 8.5 percent to Rp61.7 trillion and motor-vehicle credits were up 11.4 percent to reach Rp34.0 trillion.

    The BCA credits in all segments grew 11.5 percent to Rp387 trillion, year-on-year.

    According to Jahja, the efficiency attained through reduction of cost of funds has contributed to the growth of profit and revenues.

    “Before the monetary easing effected by Bank Indonesia since 2015, we have been able to lower the interest rates of deposits and, in turn, reduce the cost of funds. In February, we also reduced the loan interest,” he explained.

    BCAs operational income in the first semester this year rose 15.5 percent to Rp26.1 trillion while operational burden also increased by 7.3 percent, failing to reach double digits, and touching Rp12.07 trillion.

    The compensation of growth in credit distribution was seen in the hike of non-performing loan ratio to 1.4 percent by the end of June 2016 from 0.7 percent in June last year. Jahja, however, saw the trend of NPL hike would weaken.

    “The NPL is indeed predicted to rise until September but the rise will not be drastic and may have a tendency of slowing seeing the start of improvement in the economy,” he underlined.

    To anticipate problem credits, the BCA has set up an additional reserve fund worth Rp2 trillion. In June, the ratio of the reserve to total problem credits reached 193 percent.

    The BCAs liquidity condition seemed to be easing continuously. Although the credit growth reached double digits, the ratio of funds to lending (LFR) was recorded at only 77.9 percent.

    The LFR position was still below the central banks existing standard, which is at 78 to 92 percent. The newest standard is at 80-92 percent.

    In the first half of this year, the BCA collected Rp490.6 trillion in third-party funds, reflecting a growth of 7.8 percent.

    With the credit achievement and the third party funds, BCA assets in the period were recorded at Rp626.1 trillion.

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  • BNI reports healthy growth with profit up 79.9 percent

    BNI reports healthy growth with profit up 79.9 percent

    State lender PT. Bank Negara Indonesia Persero Tbk (BNI) reported a strong growth of 79.9 percent year-on-year in profit to Rp4.37 trillion in the second quarter of 2016 despite a decline in credit quality.

    President Director of the countrys fourth largest bank in assets Achmad Baiquni attributed the rise in profit to high growth in credits and fee based income, and efficiency in cost of fund.

    “Our cost of funds dropped to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent,” Baiquni said here on Friday.

    BNI outstanding credit grew in two digit by 23.7 percent year on year (yoy) to Rp288.7 trillion.

    However, the non performing loan (NPL) of the bank also rose from 2.7 percent to 3 percent gross by the end of the first half of this year.

    He acknowledged the quality of credit assets became a problem shadowing the performance of the bank in the first six months of the year.

    Therefore, BNI has to increase its reserve funds from 138.8 percent in the second quarter 2015 to 142.8 percent in the same period in 2016.

    The increase in the credit of the publicly listed bank resulted in a rose in its net interest income to Rp13.91 trillion or an increase of 11.7 percent yoy.

    Its non interest income including fee based income grew 28.7 percent to Rp4.43 trillion.

    Baiquni said business credit disbursements sustained credit portfolio as high as 73 percent with annual growth of 25.6 percent to Rp260.7 trillion.

    Corporate credits accounted for 25.1 percent of its business credits.

    The bank also recorded a soaring growth of 331 percent or Rp7.3 trillion in low interest Peoples Business Credit (KUR) pushing up KUR contribution to outstanding credit to 19.9 percent from 5.6 percent earlier.

    Baiquni attributed the high growth to facility of guarantee and subsidy on interest offered by the government.

    “Speaking about target, we prefer the government to set target for us,” he said.

    The bank holds Rp391.4 trillion in third party funds or an increase of 19.6 percent yoy, dominated by cheap funds (current account saving account (CASA) making up 60.4 percent and deposits making up the rest, he said.

    With the outstanding credits and third party funds, BNI has assets valued at Rp539.1 trillion by the end of he second quarter of 2016.

  • Maybank debuts m-banking in Cambodia

    Maybank debuts m-banking in Cambodia

    Maybank has introduced its mobile banking app in Cambodia as part of efforts to strengthen its presence in the country.

    The app is the first in Cambodia to offer augmented reality and a QR code reader. A similar app was launched in Malaysia in 2014.

    Maybank group head of community financial services Datuk Lim Hong Tat, who launched the new app in Phnom Penh, said that internet banking has become a trend for many digitally savvy Cambodians who are increasingly comfortable transacting over this channel.

    Maybank’s online banking channel, namely M2U, which was introduced in Cambodia in 2012, is seeing robust growth with its registered user base increasing by over 50% within a year, and the volume of transactions has also risen by over 50% from 2014 to 2015,” said Lim.

    Lim said that with the launch of mobile banking app, customers in Cambodia will enjoy enhanced customer experience and greater speed when undertaking banking transactions over their mobile phones.

    “With the mobile banking app, Maybank customers can check their account balance, including all debit card purchases and perform simple transactions anytime, anywhere, alleviating the need for trips to our branches,” Lim explained.

    Other features offered by the app include the ability to send money to anyone with a mobile phone number – such transactions allow for cash to be withdrawn at any Maybank ATM without using an ATM card.

    The augmented reality branch locator tool allows customers to scan their surroundings and follow onscreen directions. It also detects nearby ATMs and promotions exclusive to the Maybank customer.

    The in-app QR code reader as well as loan calculator is available for public use, even if they are not yet a Maybank customer.

    Maybank Cambodia currently operates a network of 21 branches throughout the country complemented by 40 self-service terminals.

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  • Finance ministry believes 2017 growth will be better

    Finance ministry believes 2017 growth will be better

    The Indonesian economy will grow at a faster pace in 2017 than it did in 2016, the Ministry of Finance believes.

    “I believe the economic growth next year will be higher than that of this year,” chief of the ministrys fiscal policy body, Suahasil Nazara, said at a meeting of the working committee of the House of Representatives (DPR) Budget Body here Wednesday.

    Economic growth in the past five years has tended to slow down as internal upheaval and global pressure had slightly affected the national economic performance, he noted.

    The economic slowdown is expected to reach its peak this year after the government issued a series of fiscal policies, the first since 2015, aimed at boosting the national economy, he said.

    “The fiscal policies are aimed at spurring economic growth. This way we encourage tax receipts and divert expenditures to more productive infrastructure projects from non-productive infrastructure projects and cut fuel subsidies. All of these will lead to higher growth,” he added.

    The country began to see the result of the fiscal policies when economic growth was recorded at 4.8 percent in 2015 and 4.92 percent in the first quarter of 2016, he said.

    “In view of that, the assumed economic growth for 2016 is set at 5.2 percent as compared to 4.8 percent in 2015. Since the first quarter of 2016, the economic growth has reached 4.9 percent. We believe the turning point has been visible but it takes time to increase,” he said.

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