Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of Indonesia’s largest state-owned banks, yesterday opened its doors to customers after launching its first branch in Taiwan, which is home to a large Indonesian community.
The Taipei branch — the first opened in Taiwan by any Indonesian state-owned bank — would initially target Indonesian nationals in Taiwan and businesses with ties to Indonesia, branch business manager M. Baiquni Husein said.
The branch, which is in downtown Taipei, would first focus on encouraging Indonesian migrant workers to open savings accounts, especially because 60 to 70 percent of them have BRI accounts in Indonesia, Baiquini said.
However, Indonesians hoping to use the bank to make overseas remittances would have to wait a little longer, Baiquini said.
The bank said it is in the final stages of getting approval for the service, and should be able to offer foreign remittances next year.
Remittances could eventually be a main driver of the branch’s revenue.
Taiwan was home to 240,628 Indonesian migrant workers as of the end of October, branch general manager Endry Supriadi said, adding that they send about 7 trillion to 8 trillion rupiah (US$487.88 million to US$557.58 million) home per year.
However, in promoting remittances, the bank would be challenged to offer competitive fees.
Indonesian workers said they often use Indonesian stores to send money home or go through friends who have access to remittance applications, and the fee is relatively low, ranging from NT$100 to NT$200 per transfer.
Baiquni said the bank expects to be competitive in this area, and would offer faster money transfers by keeping the end-to-end remittance chain within the bank’s network, rather than having to rely on other banks.
Although the sizable migrant worker population is expected to be a solid customer base for the branch, Endry said that it also hopes to act as a bridge for Indonesian expatriates or Taiwanese for investment-related services.
After obtaining permission from Taiwan’s central bank, BRI hopes to offer foreign-currency deposit accounts, issue letters of credit and open investment opportunities for Taiwanese in Indonesia, he said.
“We have seen the flow of investment from Taiwan to Indonesia increase, and some big companies from Taiwan are interested in establishing factories in Indonesia,” Endry said.
Established on Dec. 16, 1895, in Purwokerto, Central Java Province, BRI focuses on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and has thousands of outlets and branches across Indonesia.
The Taipei branch is just its third overseas branch in East and Southeast Asia, following branches in Singapore and Timor-Leste, said Norman Lubis, the Taipei branch’s public relations manager.
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