BII teams up with meatball hawkers

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/19/2007 11:26 AM  |  Business

JAKARTA: In order to boost its lending to the small-and-medium-enterprise sector, PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk (BII) signed a partnership agreement Tuesday with the Association of Noodle and Meatball Hawkers, which says that its members account for 6 million of the country's 43 million SMEs.

BII director Sukatmo Padmosukarso said during the signing ceremony that during the initial stage of the partnership, the bank would issue co-branded debit and ATM cards to the association's members, who could use them at the bank's 230 branch offices and 700 ATMs around the country.

""The cards can also be used for transactions through the ATMs of other banks that use the ALTO and ATM Bersama networks,"" he was quoted as saying Thursday by Antara.

According to Sukatmo, the partnership would then be followed by a BII financing scheme for the association's members, with funds being channeled through cooperatives.

BII has so far disbursed Rp 407 billion (US$45 million) in loans to SMEs through its Linkage program, which is operated in collaboration with 80 rural banks. (JP/11)

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