BCB, Niaga joins hands to tap market
BCB, Niaga joins hands to tap market
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia's Bumiputra-Commerce Bank (BCB) and its Indonesian unit
PT Bank Niaga tied-up on Wednesday to introduce a speedy
remittance service for some 600,000 Indonesian workers here.
The 'CashLaju' (FastCash) service will cater to Indonesian
workers here as well as small business traders with active cross-
border trade in Indonesia, said BCB chief executive Rozali
Mohamed Ali.
The service, available at over 270 BCB outlets, allows monies
to be paid to beneficiaries through Bank Niaga's 160 branches on
the same day and to other Indonesian banks the next day, he said.
For beneficiaries without any banking accounts, the funds can
be collected at some 10,000 post offices under PT POS Indonesia
between three to 10 days.
Some 2 billion ringgit (US$526 million) were remitted by
Indonesian workers here last year, of which BCB has only a 10
percent share of the market, officials said.
They said the new service was also timely in anticipation of
more robust intra-regional trade with ongoing market
liberalization.
Bank Niaga's executive director Catherine Hadiman said the
bank handled remittances worth some Rp 400 billion ($47.51
million) last year mainly from workers in the Middle East, Hong
Kong and Taiwan.
Remittances through the bank are expected to double this year
to Rp 800 billion, with the Malaysian portion expected to account
for 10 percent of the total, she said.
"We were not focused before on Malaysia but with the new
service, I expect 50 percent can come from Malaysia next year,"
she told reporters.
BCB, the second largest bank in Malaysia, holds a 51 percent
stake in Bank Niaga, the 10 largest among some 200 commercial
banks in Indonesia.
It bought the stake last year from the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which took over Bank Niaga in the
late 1990s along with numerous other banks hit by the regional
financial crisis.
On merger talks between BCB and Malaysia's fifth largest
lender AMMB Holdings, Rozali said negotiations were ongoing and
the central bank has given them until Sept.15 to reach a
conclusion.
Sources told financial news wire AFX-Asia the two parties were
still haggling over pricing but a memorandum of understanding was
expected to be signed soon.
Under the pact, AMMB will sell its retail banking operations
to BCB's parent, Commerce-Asset Holdings for 4 billion ringgit in
cash, a source said.
Malaysian banks are seeking a new round of mergers to stay
competitive ahead of market liberalization in 2007.