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ommercial banks involved in the branchless banking project said the pilot had thrived in it's first three months as evidenced by the number of customers and agents (UPLKs) and transaction volume.

The branchless banking project pilot was initiated by Bank Indonesia (BI) in May and was launched at five banks ' Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Sinar Harapan Bali, Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN), and CIMB Niaga ' to facilitate financial inclusion.

The central bank requires all banks to have agents, such as gas stations, small shops or other business outlets, to support their projects.

The project aims to boost the nation's deposit-to-GDP and loan-to-GDP ratios, which stood at 39.1 percent and 32.8 percent, respectively, as of last year.

Denpasar-based Bank Sinar Harapan Bali, a subsidiary of state-owned Bank Mandiri, recorded a total of 145 new customers and six agents in Gianyar and Tabanan, Bali, since its branchless banking project ' Sinar Sip ' began.

I Wayan Sukarta Dharmawan, the bank's president director, said the bank was looking to increase the number of agents to more than 180 after the pilot ended.

'We have 92 branch offices right now. We want at least double that number of future agents,' he said on Tuesday, adding currently customers were mostly informal traders, homemakers and students.

He said that in November ' when the pilot finishes ' the bank would try to expand Sinar Sip's coverage to include urban areas, such as Denpasar. It is currently paired with mobile operator PT Axis Telekom Indonesia and Wayan said there were no plans to collaborate with another operator.

Sinar Harapan's latest data shows that transactions between May and August amounted to Rp 123.86 million (US$11,277).

State-owned BRI is also receiving a positive response from its project, carried out in Banyuwangi, East Java; and Kebumen, Central Java.

BRI corporate secretary Muhamad Ali said that the bank had 11 agents, each completing around 200 transactions per day. 'That is equal to the daily work of one teller,' he said.

Its number of customers in the project now reaches 2,500, while its transactions amount to Rp 35 million.

Meanwhile, publicly listed BTPN saw its agents increase to 25 between May and August, according to BTPN business development head Donny Prasetya.

Currently, the bank operates its project ' BTPN WOW! ' in Dramaga, Ciampea and Cibungbulan subdistricts in Bogor, West Java; and in Pekutatan, Mendoyo and Penebel subdistricts in Bali.

'Most of the agents are located in Bogor and have about five agents in Bali,' Donny said.

Donny said the bank had begun collaborating with mobile operator PT Indosat after sealing a partnership deal with PT XL Axiata in May. It hopes to establish another partnership with PT Telekomunikasi Seluler (Telkomsel) this year.

Separately, BI deputy governor Ronald Waas said that many other banks had expressed their interest in joining the branchless banking program.

'The BPDs [regional development banks] are interested [in joining]. We will conduct an evaluation as soon as the pilot finishes and they may join then,' he said.

Bank Danamon president director Henry Ho said he hoped the bank would join the program soon. 'We are very keen. We've been trying to get into the project because we think we already have good branchless banking through our SMS banking,' he said.

He added that Danamon wanted to join the pilot project, but could not because of the limit set by BI.