ANZ Panin reopens credit card business

ANZ Panin reopens credit card business

JAKARTA (JP): ANZ Panin Bank, in cooperation with Visa Card
International, relaunched its credit card operation on Tuesday
two years after the financial crisis put an abrupt end to the
initial launch.

The operation will use the credit card facility ANZ Panin
acquired from the liquidated Bank Papan Sejahtera.

"I am very optimistic about the future of the Indonesian
economy, which is showing positive signs of recovery," ANZ
Banking Group Limited managing director Charles V. Carbonaro
announced.

Australian-based ANZ Banking Group Ltd. owns 85 percent of the
equity in the foreign joint venture bank, with publicly listed
Panin Bank holding the remaining 15 percent.

ANZ Panin acquired the credit card operation of Bank Papan
Sejahtera from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency in May
for A$7 million (US$4.7 million). The operation has 47,000 credit
card accounts.

Carbonaro said the bank hoped to expand its credit card
business as rapidly as possible, taking into account the recovery
of the Indonesian economy.

"We are committed to becoming a leading card issuer in
Indonesia and we are looking forward to building on our customer
base for future growth in cards and in other consumer banking
products," he said.

The banking group will use its relationship with Panin Bank to
formulate a strategy to promote its products, he said.

Carbonaro also said the group was studying the possibility of
introducing a number of different services, including debit
cards, smart cards and electronic cash cards, within the next
three to four years.

Visa Executive Vice President of Southeast Asia and Greater
China James G. Murray, who was present at the launching,
said that in the Asia Pacific, 20 percent of the people used
payment cards for transactions.

In Indonesia, however, 96 percent of the people still use
cash, Murray said.

"The trends that are happening across the region will happen
in Indonesia as well", he said, adding that Indonesia could
leapfrog other countries in the use of payment cards due to the
country's economic recovery and undeveloped payment
infrastructure.

The new trend in the payment card market is the use of the
Internet for business transactions, he said.

While payment card usage in the real world increased by 15
percent to 20 percent each year, the increase on the Internet
was 300 percent, he said.

He predicted that in the Asia Pacific, Internet transactions
would increase by between US$10 billion and $220 billion per year
over the next five years.

Separately, ANZ Panin Bank president Ian Colley said the ANZ
group hoped to acquire 20 percent equity in Panin Bank within the
next two months, to add to its current 4.9 percent holding.

Panin is considered a healthy bank compared to most other
Indonesian banks, which are experiencing financial difficulties.
Panin is not among the candidates for the government's massive
bank recapitalization program.

ANZ earlier said it was increasing its stake in Panin Bank as
part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in Indonesia's
banking sector.(02)