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ajor lenders have pledged to provide enough money either through their ATMs or branch offices to meet the expected surge in demand for cash during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Banks will be closed on Dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1 as the Bank Indonesia (BI) will stop clearing and real-time gross settlement services during these days.

Bank Central Asia (BCA) '€” the largest private lender '€” has prepared around Rp 19 trillion (US$1.52 billion)-worth of cash at its ATMs and branch offices for the holidays.

According to BCA electronic banking services head Joanes J. Gunawan, the amount of funds prepared this year is 15 percent higher than in 2013. '€œThe increase in the amount of funds is caused by economic growth, which has led our customers to spend more as well,'€ he said during a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Around 60 to 70 percent of the cash is designated for ATM withdrawals, with the rest allocated to branch offices. BCA data shows that the highest demand for cash during the holidays is in large cities, which are BCA'€™s major markets.

Joanes said it would also keep some of its branches open during the weekends to meet its customers'€™ need for cash. At present, it has 37 branch offices that operate on weekends in Jakarta; Bandung, West Java; Medan, North Sumatra; and Palembang, South Sumatra.

Meanwhile, state-owned lenders Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) have prepared the largest amounts of cash among all domestic banks.

While BRI has prepared Rp 23.28 trillion to support its operations, BNI plans to pump in between Rp 22 trillion and Rp 25 trillion in cash.

BRI corporate secretary Budi Satria said that about Rp 16.39 trillion of the cash had been disbursed to its ATMs and the remaining Rp 6.89 trillion was channeled to its branch offices. BRI currently has 19,000 ATMs, 1,038 branch offices and more than 5,000 units.

The amount of cash that BRI has prepared is up by 15.5 percent compared to the Rp 20.24 trillion recorded in December 2013. '€œA large amount of the cash has been distributed to the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi areas, amounting to Rp 5.87 trillion,'€ Budi said.

BNI operations and information technology director Honggo Widjojo Kangmasto said the lender had boosted its figure by about 10 percent from last year. '€œWith a higher number of customers, we are also seeing higher transaction volume and a greater need for cash,'€ he said in a text message.

According to data from BNI, the lender actually reported an increase in terms of corporate clients throughout this year, up to 289,306 corporate deposit accounts in September 2014 from 282,500 accounts in December 2013.

However, its individual accounts declined to 14.2 million from 16.1 million during the same period.

As with BCA, BRI and BNI will keep some of their branches open during the holidays.

Meanwhile, state-run Bank Mandiri has allocated Rp 15.17 trillion for cash-related transactions during the holidays. The amount is down slightly from the Rp 16.25 trillion in December 2013.

Mandiri senior vice president for central operations Agus Retmono attributed the lower figure to the shorter holiday period that the country would see this year-end.

Separately, BI has estimated that the amount of cash it will have supplied to the banking system in December will be around Rp 88.1 trillion, up from Rp 74.3 trillion a year ago. According to BI currency management department director Dian Karmila, the year-end period is the second-busiest period of the year for cash withdrawals, after Idul Fitri.

'€œBesides Christmas and New Year-related expenses, the cash supply is normally used for allowance payments to employees and to pay the remaining costs of various government projects,'€ she told reporters.