VIVAnews - Bank Indonesia (BI) will not be limiting the bank ownership of foreign parties in Indonesia. However, BI would restrict the operational activities of foreign banks.
“We’ll not control foreign parties, we can’t breach our agreement with the WTO, it would be infuriating,” Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution said in Jakarta on Friday, January 8.
The restriction will emphasize on regulating foreign investors in branch office opening and expansion.
Therefore, he expects small banks to be able to conduct mergers to prevent being sold and bought by foreign companies.
Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia assures the obligation to fulfill the capital ownership of minimum Rp 100 billion will still apply in 2010. Banks who do not meet the requirement will be operationally restricted. “The point is that we don’t want to let the banks to be sold easily,” Nasution said.
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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti