BNI Opens A Branch In Amsterdam, Captures European Market Potential Post-Brexit

JAKARTA - PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BBNI) has just inaugurated its newest international branch office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands this week. According to BNI's President Director Royke Tumilaar, this is in line with the company's mandate from the government as a development agent working on the global market.

"BNI continues to expand and optimize global banking performance, one of which is by expanding its network to Amsterdam to capture business potential in the post-Brexit European region," he said in an official statement on Wednesday, May 18.

According to Royke, the volume of trade transactions (export-import) between the Netherlands and Indonesia is quite large, including the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. In addition, he assessed that the high population of the Indonesian diaspora in the Netherlands can help various business activities, both MSMEs and various global retail transaction businesses.

"We hope that Amsterdam can become one of the strategic operational areas so that it can increase BNI's role as a global Indonesian bank that actively encourages direct investment to the country," he said.

Royke continued, the branch office in Amsterdam has the status of a representative office and complements the current overseas network, namely in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, New York, and Seoul.

“BNI abroad provides trade finance transaction services, bank guarantees, and others. For diaspora who want to develop their business, BNI also provides a financing scheme through Diaspora Lending. We want these various facilities to be able to reach more diaspora easily, efficiently, and cost-effectively to enable Indonesian entrepreneurs to expand their business overseas,” he explained.

On the same occasion, Deputy Minister II of SOEs, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo revealed that BNI could play a strategic role in increasing business relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as with other countries in the European region.

"The Ministry of BUMN is proactive in encouraging more BUMN companies to expand their business in the global arena so that they can become a reference for other companies in Indonesia to do business internationally," he said when inaugurating BNI Amsterdam.

Not only that, Tiko, as Kartika Wirjoatmodjo is familiarly called, advised SOEs to optimize transactions and the value of outbound investments and synergize businesses to produce harmonious and integrated strategic policies.

"Representing the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, we express our appreciation to BNI for being proactive in developing its business network overseas. Through the inauguration of the BNI Amsterdam Representative Office, we add to the list of Indonesian state-owned enterprises that are going global," he said.

For information, there are currently 17 SOEs operating overseas, with a total of 83 branches/subsidiaries/grandchildren/joint ventures in 26 countries.