Nikko, BII sign agreement

JAKARTA (JP): PT Nikko Securities Indonesia signed an agreement on Tuesday with publicly listed Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) to allow its retail clients to purchase equity stocks using the bank's debit cards.

"Clients of Nikko Securities will have their equity stocks account at BII," said Adler Manurung, director of Nikko Securities.

Besides giving services of stock brokering, Nikko Securities also manages mutual funds that are worth Rp 570 billion in total.

It also plans to invest up to Rp 50 billion from the mutual funds into viable information technology and Internet-based companies.

"We are searching for Internet companies that have income streams, not only those who boast about their having high frequency of visitor hits," said Nikko Securities president Harianto Solichin.(udi)