BNI to pay Global account holders

JAKARTA: The Ministry of Finance has officially assigned Bank BNI to pay out depositors of the recently shut down Bank Global.

BNI and along with finance ministry's blanket guarantee implementation unit (UP3) is expected to begin the payments next Monday, upon verification of depositors' identities and proof of accounts at Bank Global.

"We have appointed BNI to pay out the claims for Bank Global depositors, which will hopefully start by next week," the finance ministry's Director General for Financial Institutions, Darmin Nasution, said on Friday.

BNI also paid out depositors of the corruption-ridden Bank Asiatic and Bank Dagang Bali last year.

Bank Indonesia officially closed down Bank Global on Jan. 13, after suspending its operations for a month, on the grounds of failing capital and obvious evidence of bank fraud.

The central bank said that Bank Global's third-party liabilities amount to Rp 759 billion (US$84.3 million). -- JP