BNI doing business with more Japanese banks

Signs partnership agreement with 42nd Japanese bank.

State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia has signed a partnership agreement with Iyo Bank, the largest regional bank in Shikoku Prefecture, to strengthen the BNI’s foothold in the Japanese banking system. BNI is Indonesia’s fourth-largest bank by assets and is the only Indonesian bank with a branch in Japan.

Iyo Bank is the 42nd Japanese regional bank to have signed a partnership agreement with BNI, which said the cooperation agreement will allow it to provide more financial services to Japanese clients, especially those that do businesses in Indonesia.

BNI said 63 of Iyo Bank’s corporate clients had business units in Indonesia, but none of them were using BNI’s banking services. He hoped that with the partnership, BNI hopes to attract at least 30 Iyo Bank depositors.

Iyo Bank has 150 branches in 13 prefectures in Japan. It manages US$57 billion in assets, almost twice the total assets overseen by BNI.

The agreement between BNI and Iyo Bank was signed by Iyo Bank’s international division general manager, Kazutomi Hirai, and BNI’s Japan branch head, Gatoet Gembiro Noegroho.

Japanese investments in Indonesia hit US$1.8 billion from January to September, said the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). This made Japan Indonesia’s second-largest foreign direct investment source after Singapore, which invested US$3.5 billion during the same period.