TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Maybank to change BII’s name, sees RI as ‘potential market’

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia’s biggest banking group by assets and the fourth-largest in Southeast Asia, has restored its plan to include the group’s name with that of its Indonesian subsidiary, publicly listed PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), despite criticism that the name was “too Malaysian”

Amahl S. Azwar (The Jakarta Post)
Kuala Lumpur
Sat, February 23, 2013

Share This Article

Change Size

Maybank to change BII’s name, sees RI as ‘potential market’

M

alayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia’s biggest banking group by assets and the fourth-largest in Southeast Asia, has restored its plan to include the group’s name with that of its Indonesian subsidiary, publicly listed PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), despite criticism that the name was “too Malaysian”.

Maybank president and group chief executive producer Abdul Wahid Omar announced the plan to a group of Indonesian journalists in an interview on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“Our intention is to change [BII’s] name to Maybank-BII. So we will have both names [in the subsidiary],” said Abdul Wahid, who was accompanied by BII president director Khairussaleh Ramli.

The Malaysian lender, which is listed on the Malaysian stock exchange, acquired 97.5 percent shares of BII in 2008 after it previously failed to acquire Bank Permata in Indonesia four years earlier.

Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) as BNII, BII is one of Indonesia’s top-10 banks by assets and is projected to surpass Singapore as the major overseas contributor to Maybank.

As previously reported, Maybank had intended to change the name of BII, which currently has 415 branches across Indonesia, to Maybank Indonesia.

However, the rebranding plan has yet to be approved by the Indonesian regulator as well as the government.

BII’s workers union reportedly rejected the idea since the name was “too Malaysian”.

Commenting on this, Abdul Wahid said Maybank would continue to push the rebranding plan, citing that there was a need for the group to have common branding across the region.

Maybank’s other subsidiaries in ASEAN countries include Maybank Singapore and Maybank Philippines.

“[Once the rebranding is completed], if a BII customer comes to Singapore and he sees Maybank Singapore [on the street], he will have a sense of confidence,” Abdul Wahid said.

He added, however, the Malaysian bank would still discuss the plan with Indonesian regulators.

Maybank’s BII contributed 7 percent to the group’s total profit before tax in 2012, higher than the 5.2 percent it contributed a year earlier.

The firm’s Singapore’s operations, with 22 branches, remained the second-largest contributor to total profit before tax in 2012, despite experiencing a decrease in its contribution from 15.1 percent in 2011 to only 14.4 percent last year.

With that, Maybank’s Indonesia’s operations are projected to contribute double-digit percentages to the group’s total profit in 2015, with a total of 450 branches expected to be built this year.

Earlier this week, BII announced that it had reaped US$124.2 million if net profits throughout 2012, up 81 percent compared to a year earlier.

The Maybank group’s return-on-equity (ROE), a key measure of profitability, reached 16 percent in 2012, surpassing its initial target of 15.6 percent, it announced on Thursday.

In addition, when asked on when Maybank would refloat a 20 percent stake in BII on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, Abdul Wahid said the group would continue to ask for a postponement until the its share price was above Rp 510 apiece.

“It is our hope that we may continue to get the extension,” he said, adding the group had sent a letter on the matter to the Indonesian regulator.

Earlier this year, Maybank held for the fifth time on reducing its holdings in BII, for the same reason.

In addition, Abdul Wahid said the banking bill currently being discussed by Indonesian lawmakers to limit foreign ownership in domestic banks would be unattractive to investors if it applied retroactively.

“We believe that for any country to progress, it must not introduce laws retroactively,” he said. Shares in BII (BNII) were closed at Rp 435 apiece on Friday after opening at Rp 430.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.