Bank Commonwealth sees 80% growth in custom
Bank Commonwealth sees 80% growth in custom
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Commonwealth, the Indonesian operation of the giant Commonwealth Bank of Australia, expects an 80 percent growth in the number of its depositors in Indonesia this year, from 10,000 accounts currently.
"We expect an 80 percent growth this year," director for banking products and marketing Djumali Widjaja said on Friday at the launching of the bank's latest debit card facility in alliance with MasterCard International.
Having started operating in Jakarta in 1997, Bank Commonwealth focused on its retail banking operation, which made up 80 percent of its accounts, he said.
He said that unlike other banks, Bank Commonwealth local customers were those who had activities or businesses linked to Australia.
This year, Djumali said, the bank was also expected to see a 50 percent growth in assets, which currently stand at Rp 1 trillion (about US$96.62 million).
He said that the alliance with MasterCard International, the largest credit card issuer in Indonesia, should generate some 1,000 additional customers for the bank.
Asked if the bank would issue a credit card facility, Djumali said that there was no such plan for the near future.
"We want to do it step by step. Credit cards take more strategic planning," he said.
On performance, Djumali said that last year the bank suffered a loss of Rp 15 billion, due mainly to the bank's decision to write off its corporate clients' debts of almost Rp 23 billion.
"We wanted to have zero nonperforming loans, that's why we decided to write off the debts," he said, adding that the bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at present stood at a healthy 107 percent.
CAR is the ratio between capital and risk-weighted assets.
Commonwealth is apparently taking careful steps to expand its business in Indonesia, where the banking industry has yet to recover from the financial crisis.
Djumali said that the bank would maintain its focus on establishing its network in Jakarta. In a few weeks, the bank would open its third branch in the capital, he said.