Banking

With only about 20% of Indonesian adults having any sort of relationship with the financial service sector, the country’s massive, untapped customer base offers great potential for the big industry players. The combination of a broadening and deepening market, and ever-sinking interest rates, has boosted the already-growing demand for financial services in the archipelago, from microcredit to mezzanine finance. Challenges ahead include determining how and to what extent the private sector can fund Indonesia's massive infrastructural projects, which are expected to draw both foreign and domestic capital. These long-term projects require a recalibration of time-scales for banks used to thinking in yearlong or five-year periods. This chapter includes interviews with Darmin Nasution, Governor, Bank Indonesia; Gatot M Suwondo, President Director, Bank Negara Indonesia; and a roundtable with Jahja Setiaatmadja, President Director, BCA; Michael Young, President Director, HSBC; Zulkifili Zaini, President Director, Bank Mandiri and David Fletcher, President Director, Permata Bank.