Three most powerful banks

Three most powerful banks

From Merdeka

Society has now learned a hard lesson from the recent measures
taken by the government to liquidate 16 private banks. People
should now be more careful in choosing which banks they can trust
to deposit their money. People should also be vigilant against
any bank that offers high interest on customers' funds.

It should be noted that some bank owners used the money
deposited in their banks to finance their own businesses rather
than helping other businessmen to run their businesses. Those
recalcitrant banks were not complying with the regulations set by
the central bank.

To the best of my knowledge there are now three most powerful
private banks in Indonesia, i.e. BCA, Bank Duta and Bank Umum
Nasional. I have good reasons to point out these three banks,
simply because they are owned by extremely wealthy individuals.
The biggest shareholders of BCA, for example, are tycoons Liem
Sioe Liong, Sigit Hardjojudanto and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. Next
is Bank Umum Nasional which is owned by a hugely successful
entrepreneur, Bob Hasan. The third bank, Bank Duta, is also
managed by Bob Hasan, along with Bustanil Arifin, former minister
of cooperatives and head of National Logistic Agency.

So we can be assured that there is no question of liquidation
measures to be taken against these three banks. There was a great
rush against BCA when rumors circulated that Uncle Liem (Sioe
Liong) had died. The bank easily cashed Rp 500 billion to pay its
clients. It was not a bid deal anyway. Liem said that his savings
in Bank Indonesia alone amounted to Rp 5 trillion.

What we are concerned about is that there will be prolonged
inflation which may cover a period of two years or so. The
government ought to be on the watch.

H.G. MALIKMASS

Jakarta