Bank of New York enters Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): The Bank of New York, America's oldest bank, has opened a representative office here to improve services to its Indonesian clients.

"We have been providing services to Indonesian clients for 40 years. The decision to open a representative office in Jakarta is for the convenience of our clients in Indonesia," the bank's vice chairman, Samuel F. Chevalier, said here yesterday.

He said that the bank would be able to offer customers a full range of international banking and securities processing services, including trade letters, export bills collection, commercial and treasury payments and American and Global Depository Receipts.

Asked about Indonesia's inflation and interest rates, he said: "The inflation in Indonesia has no great impact directly on our business, because we centrally participate in dollar transactions, not with rupiah. The interest rate, meanwhile, is important to the local economy and to our clients here," he said.

"Our principal goal is to participate in the financial business whatever the condition of the country is. We hope to bring our success to Indonesia," he said.

The bank's chief representative in Jakarta, Daniel T.S. Chia, said that the Bank of New York will deal with three major businesses in Indonesia.

"The first area is to promote corresponding bankings with local financial institutions. Secondly, we promote trade finance, in which banks may access trade facilities, so we are partners to them. Thirdly we do securities. We are the custodian for PT Telkom which will list on the New York Stock Exchange. We did the same for PT Indosat, PT Tri Polyta Indonesia," he said.

Telkom is the state-owned domestic telecommunications operator which plans to float its shares in New York next month, while Tri Polyta is a polypropylene resins manufacturer listed on NASDAQ.

The Bank of New York, established in 1784, is one of the largest bank holding companies in the United States, with total assets of US$54 billion as of June 30 this year.

The company provides a complete range of banking and other financial services to corporations and individuals worldwide through its basic businesses: securities and other processing; credit cards; retail banking; corporate banking; trust; investment management and private banking; and finance. (icn)