Mashill, Brussels Lambert form alliance

Mashill, Brussels Lambert form alliance

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Mashill announced Saturday that Bank
Brussels Lambert (BBL) of Belgium has bought a 10 percent stake
of its outstanding shares from the public.

The bank said in a statement that with the purchase, the two
banks would form a strategic alliance, creating a synergistic
partnership in customers, network, products and technology.

With the alliance, the two banks would be better positioning
themselves in catering to an increase in intra-Asian and Pacific
rim trade as well as in anticipation for the era of
globalization, the bank said.

According to the bank, as the region, and the world economy,
moves toward a more open economy in terms of trade and financial
services, in line with Afta by 2003 and WTO guidelines, the two
banks are laying the foundation for future growth.

Bank Mashill, listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, has assets
of more than Rp 1.65 trillion (US$687 million) and a network of
35 branches in Indonesia's seven major cities.

The bank's focus of operations is lending to the trading,
industry and business services sectors while also providing
consumer products like motorcycle loans, credit cards and home
mortgages.

BBL is a leading bank in Belgium. Ranked by total assets ($100
billion), BBL is a global top-100 bank and number three in
Belgium. The bank's core business areas are retail and
professional banking, investment and merchant banking (including
asset management) and international banking.

In its domestic market, BBL has about 1,000 branches and 300
fully automated Self-Banks based on the Bank's edge in
information technology. Through specialized companies, BBL also
provides services in the areas of insurance, leasing, factoring
and travel. Internationally, BBL has operations in 28 countries,
including the main financial centers of London, New York, Hong
Kong and Singapore.

The bank has a subsidiary in Australia, representative
offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta, Seoul and Tokyo and an
equity participation in India's Vysya Bank. The activities in
this region are managed from a Regional Head Office in
Singapore. (13)