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aybank Indonesia'€™s global sector will focus on increasing its number of big-company clients next year by providing improved integrated financial services under its group for clients in the ASEAN scope, an executive says.

'€œWe will target big companies in growing sectors, such as property, transportation, manufacturing, crude palm oil [CPO], agriculture, power plants and infrastructure,'€ Maybank Indonesia'€™s director of global banking, Eri Budiono, told reporters after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on online corporate payments with Kalstar Aviation and several travel agencies.

Eri added that Maybank Indonesia '€” a rebranding of PT Bank International Indonesia instigated by major shareholder Maybank Group '€” would increase fee-based income from business-to-business transactions, especially in ASEAN, as it plans to strengthen its presence in the region, moreover with the full implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) set for next year.

Maybank, a Malaysian based financial businesses group, has established its brand in several ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

The bank hopes to offer an improved integrated financial services system for its clients through different subsidiaries available under the group, Eri said. '€œWe already have complete financial businesses. The only case is how to integrate them all better at the same time.'€

In Indonesia, the group includes Maybank Kim Eng Securities, Maybank Syariah Indonesia, BII Finance and WOM Finance.

'€œBesides improving services for local clients, we also target foreign companies in the region in any sector as we plan to be a regional player in the ASEAN Economic Community,'€ Eri said.

According to him, business-to-business transactions in exports, imports, trading and the supply chain process contribute significantly to the bank'€™s fee-based income. Maybank Indonesia'€™s global banking sector income composition was comprised of 30 percent fee-based income in June 2015. The bank targets to increase it to 50 percent by the beginning of 2017.

The fee-based income comprises 50 percent fees from transactions in the aviation sector while the remaining 50 percent will come from various transactions in the cargo, computer and insurance businesses.

The MoU with Kalstar Aviation '€” a local airline based in Kalimantan, serving domestic routes to and from cities in Kalimantan '€” is one of Maybank'€™s cooperations with airlines, in addition to existing agreements with Garuda Indonesia, Citilink and Lion Air.

According to Eri, Maybank seeks to cooperate with 600 more travel agencies partnering with Kalstar as now it only cooperates with 20.

Travel agencies will benefit from our corporate online payment system. They don'€™t have to go to branches to pay the airline companies anymore. It will save many costs and the airlines benefit from having all the payment records online 24/7 in real time,'€ Eri said. (rbk)