Bank Rakyat Indonesia

Bank Rakyat Indonesia

BRI 14040 offers quick and easy banking transactions by phone

Executives, professionals, academics and businesspeople who are always on the move can now make banking transactions by phone anywhere and anytime through Bank BRI, Indonesia's only bank which has offices in almost every town across the country.

"Customers can just dial 14040 when they are in Jakarta or 021-57987400 when they are outside the capital, and staff members at our Call Center will be ready to help them make their transactions," said Benny Imam Syafi'i, the chief of Bank BRI's marketing department.

He said Bank BRI's phone banking facility, which goes by the name Call BRI 14040, could be enjoyed free of charge by holders of the bank's BritAma automated teller machine (ATM) cards.

Transactions that can be made through Call BRI 14040 include the transfer of funds to other holders of BritAma ATM cards, and the payment of telephone bills from state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom.

With this phone banking facility, BritAma cardholders can also check their bank accounts, request information about the bank's products and services or file complaints.

Another phone banking service being prepared will allow BritAma cardholders to transfer funds from their Bank BRI accounts to the accounts of holders of ATM cards issued by state banks that have entered into an electronic banking cooperation, called ATM Link.

The state banks that have established ATM Link are Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI, Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) and Bank BRI.

"As soon as our preparations are completed, holders of ATM cards issued by these four banks will be able to transfer funds to each other through phone banking services," said Syahreza Syahrial, the phone banking manager of Bank BRI.

BritAma cardholders, through the phone banking service, will also be able to pay credit card bills issued by Bank BRI or other banks, pay or prepay cellular telephone bills, pay electricity bills from PT PLN and pay water bills from administration-owned tap water companies.

"We are also preparing the use of our phone banking service for the payment of airline and railway tickets, as well as the payment of tuition fees at universities," Syahreza said.

The phone banking service will also be able to function as a telemarketing facility, through which BritAma cardholders can buy or sell various products issued by Bank BRI.

By utilizing Bank BRI's phone banking program, customers can save time and money because they will not need to go to the bank and stand in line.

They also will avoid the risk of being robbed on their way home from the bank or getting in a car accident, because all they have to do is make a telephone call from wherever they are.

The security of the phone banking system and the confidentiality of customer data are guaranteed. And this facility, operated with high accuracy and speed, can also help customers make business deals at any time.

Syahreza said that in order to gain access to Bank BRI's phone banking system, BritAma cardholders were only required to apply -- free of charge -- for the service at their local Bank BRI branch.

He said the bank currently has about 30 million customers across the country, of which about 367,000 are BritAma ATM cardholders. More than 250,000 of these cardholders have applied for the phone banking service.

"We expect that the phone banking service, which we introduced to customers on Feb. 24, will attract more customers to apply for BritAma cards and for the service at the same time," Syahreza said.

The phone banking service was made possible by the establishment of the on-line interconnection between Bank BRI's branches.

"We have interconnected almost all of our branches on Java island and the majority of our branches on the other islands in the country," Benny said.

He said the introduction of the phone banking service was expected to improve the image of Bank BRI, which is better known for its services in rural areas.

Assigned by the government to help finance agricultural activities, the bank operates branches not only in towns but also in almost all of the districts in the country. But because farmers are generally honest and not affected by the recent economic crisis, the bank is able to keep its bad loans at a very low level -- a mere 2 percent or so of its total lendings.

"With the use of high-technology for the phone banking service, we expect to lure more customers from higher income brackets," Benny says. "Thus, we will have strong footholds in both the low-income and high-income brackets."