Bank Central Asia, HSBC and CSFB win best Indonesia's bank titles

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Central Asia (BCA), Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC) and investment bank CSFB have recently been named as Indonesia's best banks in differing categories by FinanceAsia magazine in its country awards program this year.

The magazine said on Thursday that Bank Central Asia was chosen among many local banks to win Indonesia's Best Domestic Commercial Bank title.

"Selecting the best bank in Indonesia is not a task for the faint-hearted. We've chosen BCA, which in some respects is not a bank at all but rather a huge vehicle that holds government bonds. But, that's why we like it," the magazine's statement said.

BCA's portfolio is made up of 94 percent government bonds and only 4 percent loans.

The magazine said investors tended to agree with its choice of best domestic commercial bank, as indicated by the success of BCA's US$114.9 million privatization project in May.

It said the fact that 30 percent of the placements were from international investors showed the latter's perception of the former Salim-family bank as a good vehicle.

The title of Indonesia's Best Foreign Commercial Bank went to HSBC, the magazine said.

HSBC was chosen for its constantly impressive performance in dealing with the crisis in Indonesia, especially for its innovative ways of financing the exports of its suppliers.

"HSBC has seen a few crises in its time and that's why it tends to approach these matters with a cool head," it said.

FinanceAsia said that although HSBC was nowhere near as good as Citibank in penetrating the consumer market, it had done enormously well in the corporate field.

It said among HSBC's best works were the signing of 28 new corporate customers in 1999 as Trade Solution Users, securing 32 percent of total foreign invested assets under custody and winning over 400 cash management mandates from local, regional and global firms operating in Indonesia since 1999.

Meanwhile, the investment bank CSFB was awarded the title of Best Foreign Investment Bank.

The magazine said CSFB had performed two of the largest restructurings conducted in Indonesia to date - for cigarette maker PT Sampoerna with a value of $257 million and mobile telephone operator PT Satelindo with a $749 million value. (cst)