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)