Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said the local branches of foreign banks and joint-venture lenders operating in the country should play bigger roles in providing such a trade finance facility to SMEs, which account for more than 99 percent of all business entities.

“We hope foreign banks in Indonesia can support trade finance as they have a wide overseas network, particularly for micro and SMEs,” he said on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission on Wednesday.

(Read also: Trump puts Indonesia on trade hit list)

The ICC’s latest annual survey shows Asia Pacific issued the most letters of credit (L/C) among all regions in 2015 and Indonesia was among countries with the highest increase in the use of L/C, which is a payment method for international trade transactions.

However, there were only about 270 Indonesian bankers holding international certificates in trade and guarantee that were issued by the United Kingdom-based Institute of Banking and Finance in partnership with the ICC.

The number was far lower than the combined figure of 7,000 certificate holders in China and India.

The ICC is a non-governmental global group that sets up rules and standards to facilitate the flow of international trade transactions. It oversees payment methods, buyer and seller responsibilities, as well as rules for arbitration and mediation. (tas)

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