21  October 2013
Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) launches first branch in Mumbai

Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) a member of the Maybank Group, today officially launched its first branch in Mumbai, extending the Group’s regional commercial banking platform further into South Asia. 

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. The BII Mumbai branch is located at One Indiabulls Center, Tower 2B, Elphinstone Road (West), Mumbai.

The branch was launched by Maybank Group President and CEO, Mr Abdul Farid Alias; President Director-designate of BII, Mr Taswin Zakaria; and Global Banking Director of BII, Mr. Frans Rahardja Alimhamzah at a ceremony held in its Mumbai premises. This was later followed by a dinner reception at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Mumbai, where guests included the Consul General of Malaysia in Mumbai, Mr. Mohamed Hatimi bin Abas ; senior officials from the Reserve Bank of India as well as leading industry and corporate captains.

BII Mumbai which has a capital base of US$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, Mr 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 explained.

Mr Farid said that 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. 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 US$76* billion in FY2012-13 compared with about US$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 US$66* billion in FY2012-13.”

“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.

Mr Farid added that BII Mumbai intends to become a significant trade finance bank especially in the palm oil & 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.

Meanwhile, Mr Frans Rahardja Alimhamzah said that BII Mumbai aimed to be a leading relationship bank by truly being in the community, serving through customized products & 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.

“We truly believe in the potential of India as a sound long-term investment destination and want to leverage especially on the growth potential of the local economy, as well as the robust India-ASEAN trade flows which are expected to increase to some US$100 billion by year 2015 and US$200 billion by 2022.”

Mr. Pravin Batra, CEO of BII India said, “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.

* Source: Department of Commerce, Govt of India