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CIMB Niaga boosts service to migrant workers
CIMB Niaga is expanding its remittance service in the company’s Malaysian branch to tap into the growing amount of money repatriated by Indonesian migrant workers in the country
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C
IMB Niaga is expanding its remittance service in the company’s Malaysian branch to tap into the growing amount of money repatriated by Indonesian migrant workers in the country.
Besides providing the remittance service, CIMB Niaga will also offer affordable credit to Indonesian residents working in the neighboring country, the bank’s president director, Arwin Rasyid, said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
He said the bank will soon open a branch in the Malaysian capital and a number of supporting offices across the country to support remittance services for Indonesian migrant workers.
CIMB Niaga, created from the merger of Bank Niaga and Bank Lippo in 2008, is controlled by Malaysian financial conglomerate CIMB Group.
“As a new player, we are aiming to handle 10 percent of the money sent by around four million Indonesian workers in Malaysia. It’s a realistic target we can reach this year,” he told The Jakarta Post prior to the inauguration of Rumah Kita (Our House), a shelter for abused workers.
According to data from Bank Indonesia, migrant workers in Malaysia sent a total of US$2.34 billion to Indonesia in 2009 through banks and non-banking institutions.
The Indonesian migrant workers’ remittance from Malaysia is expected to drop this year due to the suspension of new labor supply to the country since June 26, 2009.
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said the labor supply would be resumed after the signing of a new labor agreement between the two countries in the next two months.
Besides national and foreign banks, more than 64 non-banking institutions have been given licenses to provide remittance services for Indonesians working overseas, including Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI, Western Union, Money Gram, PT Simacazh Exchange, PT Able Remittance, PT Tiki Jalur Nugraha, PT Mandiri Express Remittance and PT Citra Niaga Remittance.
According to data at the National Agency for Labor Placement and Protection, remittance from Indonesian workers has increased sharply over the past several years due to a rise in the number of the workers abroad.
For example, in 2003, remittance from Indonesian migrant workers amounted to $1.67 billion
before gradually increasing to $1.88 billion in 2004, $2.93 billion in 2005 and $3.42 billion in 2006.
The amount rose sharply to $5.84 billion in 2007 and was nearly $7 billion in 2008.
He explained the opening of the shelter was an expression of CIMB Niaga’s commitment to supporting the government’s program and protecting migrant workers.
The shelter, equipped with 50 bunks, a library and several computers with Internet connections, will accommodate troubled workers and train them before being re-employed or repatriated.
“This facility is part of CIMB Niaga’s corporate social responsibility program,” Arwin said, adding the bank allocated Rp 2 billion to rebuild an elementary school in Yogyakarta and Rp 12 billion to rehabilitate seven elementary schools in West Sumatra in 2009.
