BCA to launch online banking in August
BCA to launch online banking in August
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA) will
launch online banking services in August and enter the business-
to-customer e-commerce next year, company president D.E. Setijoso
said on Wednesday.
Setijoso said the development of an Internet-based service was
part of the company's strategy to strengthen its position as a
major payment-settlement bank in the future.
"We are not establishing Internet banking for the fame. We are
not the first to enter the Internet business, but since we have a
large customer base we are very optimistic that our Internet-
based services will be widely used," he told a seminar on banking
and Internet services.
Setijoso said the BCA, which made its debut on the Jakarta
Stock Exchange on May 31, would allocate US$2 million to finance
the development of its Internet banking and e-commerce services.
"We cannot afford not to have Internet banking services," he
said.
He said when the Internet banking service is launched in
August, BCA customers would be able to make transactions such as
money transfers and electricity or telephone bill payments
through the Internet.
The company will, at first, provide the Internet banking
service to individual customers because they are currently
accustomed only to conventional ways of making transactions at
banks or automated teller machine, not on the Internet, he said.
Setijoso said BCA would gradually expand its Internet banking
program by the end of the year to reach business corporations, to
provide various services, such as an online payroll management
system.
BCA will enter e-commerce business next year to provide an
online payment gateway for business-to-customer trades, he said.
BCA is currently owned by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency, which controls about a 63 percent share of the bank.
The agency took over BCA in May 1998 from owner Salim Group
after a massive run on the bank. The Salim family still possess
about a 7 percent share of BCA, while the remaining shares are
controlled by public investors. (cst)