Citibank opens 42 ATM centers in three major cities

JAKARTA (JP): Citibank Indonesia opened on Wednesday 42 new automated teller machine (ATM) booths in the capital and at its branches in Bandung and Surabaya.

Berry Lesmana, country manager for Citibank Indonesia, said each booth, called ATM Boutiques, provided two ATMs, a telebanking phone terminal, a sales and promotion desk and a self-service machine which customers could use to update their savings account books.

"These ATM booths actually are electronic banking centers with a catchy name, the ATM Boutique," Berry said during the launch of the new facilities.

Berry said Citibank customers often were burdened by the limited number of Citibank outlets in the country. With the 42 new ATM booths, he said, the bank's 700,000 credit card customers and 150,000 savings account cash card customers would be afforded additional convenience.

Of the 42 new ATM boutiques, 34 are in Jakarta and four each are in Surabaya and Bandung.

Citibank currently has four branch offices in Jakarta and one each in Surabaya and Bandung.

Berry said that since the economic crisis hit, there had not been a great change in the number of Citibank credit card customers. He does not anticipate any significant growth in the number of Citibank cardholders in the near future.

"There are people who cancel their cards, but there are also new cardholders. We have a modest net growth," he said.

Berry said Citibank saw the number of Citibank cardholders double annually from 1990 to 1995.

Citibank, which began operations in Indonesia in 1968, has 60 percent of its Indonesia business portfolio in retail banking, while the remaining 40 percent is in corporate banking, Berry said. (02)