The Financial Club opened

JAKARTA (JP): The Financial Club, a gathering place for financial sector executives, was officially opened on Tuesday night by Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff.

The club formed by the Indonesian business community is located on the top floor of the Niaga Tower on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Jakarta.

The club's board of governors consists of prominent people, such as Adrianus Mooy, former governor of Bank Indonesia, Omar Abdalla, former president of the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya, Robby Djohan, president of Bank Niaga, and Trenggono Purwosuprodjo, chairman of the Association of Private Domestic Banks. It is chaired by Ali Wardhana, a former coordinating minister for economic, financial and industrial affairs, who is now a advisor to the government for economic affairs.

"This club will help bankers to hold meetings and to negotiate with their partners," Wardhana said in his opening remark.

A number of top level bureaucrats, such as Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad, Minister of Trade Satrio B. Joedono and Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, attended the opening ceremony.

The response to the membership registration for this club was overwhelming, forcing the management to close the founding membership list earlier than scheduled last year. Now the club has 400 founding members and 100 ordinary members.

"A lot of people from the non-financial world applied for membership because they said they need to have relationships and to interact with financial-sector people," Ali said of the fact that there are a number of executives from other sectors who have joined the club.

The club offers meeting and business, as well as recreation, facilities, to members. Among them are restaurants, conference lounges, a business center, a library and a fitness center. (yns)