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