PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BNI) is exploring the expansion of banking services to the East Asia region including Taiwan where currently Indonesia has great potential in developing economic and trade cooperation.
This is supported by President Tsai Ing-Wen's new policy in his economic and trade strategy known as "The New Southbound Policy". This policy is a policy that will accommodate Taiwan to carry out wider cooperation with other countries in the Asia Pacific, especially Southeast Asia.
BNI quickly seized opportunities by exploring potential and attracting Taiwanese export-import business players through the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between BNI and The Export Import Bank of the Republic of China (Exim Bank Taiwan) regarding the provision of a Relending Facility by Exim Bank Taiwan.
This Relending Facility is used to facilitate BNI customer funding in conducting import transactions for goods sold by Taiwanese exporters. Funding for this transaction can be financed up to 100% of the transaction value with a simple process.
Director of Treasury and International BNI Henry Panjaitan in Jakarta, Tuesday (18/5/2021) said that with this agreement, BNI can provide financing to Indonesian importers from Taiwan at very competitive rates. This step can help the growth of an export-based domestic industry by importing raw materials from Taiwan.
The Relending Facility by Exim Bank Taiwan and BNI was achieved since February 2021, through a cooperation agreement signed by the General Manager of the International Division of BNI Legendariah Rasuanto in Jakarta and SVP & General Manager of the Department of Finance Exim Bank Taiwan Sarah Wang in Taiwan.
Currently, BNI has 6 overseas branch offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, London and New York. Through this network, BNI is able to compete with domestic banks in international trade and international payment business activities.
In the future, BNI will become a state-owned bank that will go global and compete with global banks. To realize the goal of becoming a global bank, BNI continues to open and expand cooperation with foreign banks to increase BNI's international business. With this facility, BNI hopes to increase Taiwan's export and import transactions for both existing and new customers.
Under President Tsai Ing-Wen's new policy, several collaborations between Taiwan and Indonesia will soon be carried out, such as economic revitalization during the Covid-19 Pandemic and future development. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, a potential sector developed for cooperation was the health sector.
Other potential sectors that can be developed through the cooperation of Taiwan and Indonesia are communication tools, research and development services, IT security and big data management, to deepening trade cooperation in the supply chain for manufacturing machine tool products, textiles, and technology.
In the future, BNI will also continue to provide other best services to support international customer transactions and make BNI one of the world's global banks.
