Standard Chartered replies

In reference to Mr. Adrianus Hiung Tjung's letter Convenience may not be the answer (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 25) about the ATM Bersama service, may I, on behalf of the personal bank division of Standard Chartered Bank, at the very onset apologize for the inconvenience that he experienced.

In an attempt to convince him that we are indeed aware of the random rejection of transactions in the ATM Bersama network and are attempting to completely revamp the system interface issues, please be advised that a recent modification in both our host software and the network settings have helped to reduce such rejection by more than 100 percent.

Please note that our Direct Banking team monitors the transaction level as well as rejections on a daily basis. These efforts have indeed succeeded in reducing error rates to an insignificant level during September 1997. Our aim is to eradicate this menace completely.

While Standard Chartered Bank is indeed sparing no effort in providing its customers with a standard of service that is "world class", please appreciate that the Bersama network is an independent entity of which the bank is a member.

Hence, we may witness stray situations where the network fails to transmit the transaction details, an issue over which the bank has no direct control.

Please, however, note that these technical issues are being closely reviewed at regular meetings that member banks conduct with the management of the network in a bid to resolve rejections comprehensively.

FARHAD D. IRANI

Head of Personal Banking

Standard Chartered Bank

Jakarta Branch