Depositors line up to transfer savings to foreign banks

JAKARTA (JP): Following uncertainty over the rupiah's value and confusion over the future of local banks, some depositors have shifted their savings to foreign banks.

As of yesterday, long lines of people were still seen at teller and customer service counters at, for example, the local head offices of Citibank and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, both located on Jl. Jend. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

Security guards at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi had to control the lines of bank customers by closing the doors repeatedly.

"We just make it easier for traffic to go in and out of the room, no other particular reason," one of the security guards said.

However, it was not as crowded at Chase Manhattan Bank on Jl. Jend. Sudirman even though a bank security guard said dozens of people came to and left the office every day.

"It's always like this here. There hasn't been any particular change recently," he said.

Hasna, vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank, was not available for comment yesterday.

Ditta Amahorseya, head of Citibank corporate affairs, declined Tuesday to classify the rising number of people opening new accounts at the bank as a kind of run.

"A run is more massive and at certain periods of time, not like this, where increases have happened gradually since the end of last year," she said.

Not all new applicants at Citibank had opened their accounts in U.S. dollars. There had been some applying for rupiah accounts, she said.

The interest rates for savings and time deposits in dollars were not as competitive as in rupiah, Ditta said.

"The interest rate of the rupiah, for example, is set at 15 percent for a time deposit of less than Rp 100 million and 16.5 percent for those with more than Rp 100 million. By comparison the rate for a time deposit in dollars is only 3 percent," she said.

Moreover, the initial deposit of US$10,000 was not a small amount that could be afforded by middle-income people in Jakarta, Ditta said without giving details on the number of the new applicants since the monetary crisis began.

"It's our policy not to disclose that number and I think most banks apply the same policy as well," she said.

Maris Kurnia, 35, of IBM Jakarta, who moved her account to the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, said she had decided to withdraw all her money from local banks for safety's sake.

She said it did not mean she could not trust local banks. "But I've heard enough rumors about bank liquidations and mergers. The fear is real that sooner or later one of my banks would have been affected."

Maris said she had three accounts at three different local banks earlier and was determined to have only one account at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

None of the staff of the bank were available for comment.

Zulkifli Bahar, a general affairs officer of Deutsche Bank, said yesterday that he did not see any change in the number of bank visitors.

He said the Jakarta branch office, which was located on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central Jakarta, was not authorized to issue any statement to the media as Deutsche Bank had its own media department at the Deutsche Bank Singapore head office.

"I think I have to confirm (with Singapore) about the current situation of the bank," he said. (04)