Jakarta, 14 July 2020 --- The effort to continue supporting direct investment for foreign investors, especially from Japanese companies into Indonesia, continues to be carried out by PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk or BNI through the International Desk unit. BNI provides comprehensive services to facilitate investors while doing business. The convenience prepared by BNI includes opening of checking account and cash management, foreign exchange (forex), issuing letters of credit (L/C), providing working capital facilities, providing information about economic conditions, investment climate, up to completing licensing, and relocating businesses in Indonesia.
The Director of Treasury and International of BNI, Putrama Wahyu Setiawan explained, currently, in Indonesia there are more than 1,500 companies that are part of Japanese investment in the form of joint ventures or subsidiaries. These companies are mostly customers of Japan Regional Banks (JRB) who invest in Indonesia. Most of them are technology-based companies.
Those JRBs have no branch offices in Indonesia. BNI takes advantage of this condition by providing complete banking services for JRBs and the JRBs’ customers in Indonesia.
One of BNI's breakthroughs in collaborating with JRB is to provide credit facility denominated in Yen or Rupiah for export-oriented Japanese-Indonesian companies. This facility is provided through coverage scheme from JRB banks (back to back loan). This scheme is the first time carried out by a local bank in Indonesia. This can be done because BNI has an overseas branch office (KCLN) in Tokyo that has cooperative agreements with regional banks in Japan.
"This loan in the form of Yen or Rupiah is made possible by the support of funding from 54 Japan Regional Banks (JRB) through BNI Tokyo, so that the loans provided have competitive interest," Putrama said.
This collaboration with JRB has paid off. BNI was able to raise funds of around Rp 6.5 trillion, plus get an expanded customer base of 400 Japanese companies that have become BNI customers. BNI Tokyo itself also plays an active role in attracting Japanese investors to Indonesia in collaboration with Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Tokyo, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) Osaka, and Tokyo Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). During Semester I-2020, the performance of the International Desk unit itself was encouraging where loan exposures grew 44.4% on an annual basis (YoY), as well as Third Party Funds (DPK) which grew by 18.4% YoY. In the future, BNI plans to provide and develop the same service for investors from Korea and China.
"We hope that other Japanese companies are also interested in getting financing through this scheme and also use other banking services from BNI comprehensively. If there are Japanese companies that have used BNI, of course they will refer it to other Japanese companies," Putrama concluded.
BNI Tokyo itself has been established since 1959 as a Representative Office and was upgraded to a branch in 1969, a year after President Soekarno's mandate through Law No. 17 of 1968 which assigned BNI as a bastion of economic defense. BNI Tokyo was given the role of raising funds from abroad and investing in Indonesia.
Various Industry Customers
There are several companies that have utilized this financing and banking service scheme to help develop their business, such as PT Banshu Electric Indonesia (BEI) which is a joint venture between Japan and local Indonesian entrepreneurs that produce automotive wire harness spare parts for two-wheeled motor vehicles and other heavy equipment industries. PT BEI itself has exported its products to many countries and has even expanded to India to create similar component industry in the context of penetrating the huge Indian market. In addition, there is also PT Sunchirin Indonesia, which is a manufacturer of air conditioner and radiator components for the needs of automotive industry in Indonesia and abroad.
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Secretary BNI
Phone: 021-5728387
Email: bni@bni.co.id