Artajasa plans KL banking services
Artajasa plans KL banking services
Johannes Simbolon, Jakarta Post, Jakarta
PT Artajasa Pembayaran Elektronis, an electronic payment
services company, plans to set up an alliance with Malaysian
banks to allow Indonesian workers in Malaysia to transfer and
receive funds through the banks.
Company corporate development group head Aries Barkah told The
Jakarta Post on Monday the service, which is scheduled to be
launched in December this year, would involve eight Malaysian
banks, including Maybank, Bumiputera Bhd and Commerce Assets
Holdings Bhd.
"The service will be quite helpful for Indonesian workers who
have been facing problems in sending home their wages or bringing
money into the country," Aries said.
There are about 1.5 million Indonesians working in Malaysia,
most of whom come from rural areas. Many of the workers carry
their money with them when entering or leaving Malaysia, making
them vulnerable to robbery.
Others send their wages home through couriers who charge high
fees for the service.
Aries said that in order to get access to the new service,
workers would have to open an account at one of the banks grouped
in the ATM Bersama (joint automated teller machine) service
operated by Artajasa. There are now 42 members of Artajasa's
joint ATM service, including dozens of provincial banks.
Once the new service is launched in Malaysia, Indonesian
workers will be able to withdraw cash from the ATMs of one of the
eight Malaysian banks participating in the new service, using ATM
cards issued by the Indonesian banks. By showing these ATM cards,
workers can also transfer money through the Malaysian banks back
to their banks in Indonesia.
"Two days later the workers can check whether their banks in
Indonesia have received the transferred funds, through the ATMs
owned by the Malaysian banks," Arief explained.
Arief said Artajasa was mulling a similar alliance with banks
in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Hong Kong, where millions of
Indonesians now work or are looking for jobs.
Artajasa is 35 percent owned by the Welfare Foundation of Bank
Indonesia and 65 percent by Lintasarta. Lintasarta is 69 percent
owned by telecommunications firm Indosat, in partnership with a
number of banking institutions who hold a combined 31 percent.
The firm now operates 5,000 ATMs across Indonesia under the
ATM Bersama name. Besides dozens of provincial banks, the members
of the joint ATM service include foreign banks Standard Chartered
Bank and ABN AMRO, and large and mid-sized national banks such as
Permata, Niaga, NISP, BNI, BRI, Danamon, Muamalat and Bumiputera.
Aside from withdrawing cash and making payments, people can
also make interbank transfers through Artajasa's ATM network, for
a fee of Rp 5,000 (54 US cents) per transaction. The transfer
service was launched earlier this year.