Bank Internasional Indonesia re-enters with Mumbai office

23 Oct 2013

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Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) marked its re-entry into India after five years, with the opening of a branch in Mumbai.

The bank says the Mumbai office would help extend the group's regional commercial banking platform further into South Asia.

Maybank group president and CEO Abdul Farid Alias, president director-designate of BII Taswin Zakaria and BII's global banking director Frans Rahardja Alimhamzah wewre in Mumbai for the event.

BII's Mumbai branch, which has a capital base of $28 million, opened for business in July 2013 and currently has a staff strength of 18.

The branch aims to tap into the growing trade and investment flows between India and ASEAN, supporting both the group's ASEAN customers into India as well as building local businesses around their Indian counterparties and partners.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Abdul Farid said that the entry of BII into Mumbai marked another milestone in Maybank Group's regional expansion strategy.

"The presence of our banking operations in Mumbai through BII is a key step in supporting Maybank's vision of becoming a regional financial services leader by 2015," he said.

Maybank Group, which has a presence in all 10 ASEAN countries, would be able to use its network to support businesses in its other locations, which had trade and investment links with India, and vice-versa, he said.

The Group offered global connectivity through its offices in London, New York and Bahrain, as well as through the Maybank Kim Eng platform that spanned North and South Asia as well as the key global financial services hubs.

"Given the growing trade flows between India and ASEAN, which stood at some $76 billion in FY2012-13 compared with about $21 billion five years ago, we are optimistic that there is vast potential for the Maybank Group in India," he said.

"In addition, we see opportunities to tap into trade flows between India and China, where we have three branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Existing India-China trade flow is valued at some $66 billion in FY2012-13."

ASEAN trade flows which are expected to increase to some $100 billion by year 2015 and $200 billion by 2022.

"With increasing trade liberalization in ASEAN and the creation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, we believe that Indian companies would want to take full advantage of a burgeoning market of over 600 million people in South East Asia," he continued.

Farid said BII Mumbai intends to become a significant trade finance bank, especially in the palm oil and thermal coal industry, as well as capture forex and remittance flows between India and the rest of the group's network.

"We also have the advantage of having another subsidiary, Kim Eng Securities India here, and our intention is to work in conjunction with them to offer a 'one-stop shop' convenience for all India-related requirements of Maybank Group customers," he said.

BII Mumbai aimed to be a leading relationship bank by serving the community through customised products and solutions and high quality of services.

"Our presence in Mumbai will help BII deliver value through our synergy within the Maybank Group, and we will build the business in India so that we can play a meaningful role in serving our clients," he said.

BII Mumbai branch will focus on the corporate and commercial banking segment and will actively participate in buyers credit (BC) and external commercial borrowing (ECB) arrangements for Indian customers.

"We are extremely pleased to officially launch BII's first branch in Mumbai. Seeing the opportunity in the market, BII Mumbai's operations will place significant focus on corporate and commercial banking segment and will actively participate in Buyers Credit (BC) and External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) arrangement for Indian customers,'' Pravin Batra, CEO of BII India, said.

BII is headquartered in Indonesia whilst Malaysian-listed Maybank is South East Asia's fourth largest bank by assets and ranked one of the top 20 strongest banks in the world by Bloomberg Markets.

In 2008, BII was bought over by Malaysia-based Maybank, which holds 88 per cent in BII. The foreign bank's India operations became inactive after 2008.

BII is one of the largest banks in Indonesia with 421 branches, including Syariah-compliant branches and overseas branches. BII has overseas presence in Mauritius and Mumbai. 

It has 1,426 ATMs, including CDMs (cash deposit machines) across Indonesia, and also connected with more than 20,000 ATMs under ATM PRIMA, ATM BERSAMA, ALTO, CIRRUS, and Malaysia's MEPS network, and to more than 3,500 Maybank ATMs in Malaysia and Singapore.

As of 30 June 2013, total customer deposits with the bank stood at $9,181 million while bank's total assets stood at $12,225 million.

BII provides full range of financial services through its branch and ATM network, phone banking, mobile banking and internet banking channels. BII is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BNII) and is active in business, retail and global banking.

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