Internet Banking
I have tried to transfer cash through my internet account from my UK bank to BCA in Indonesia but found that that Western world banks would not deal with banks in Indonesia. Indonesia is not even listed on the country list for transfer. GCEN, the international money exchanger, have also stated that they do not deal with banks in Indonesia. I was very surprised at this and was wondering if anyone else encountered the same problem or if anyone had any information on this situation and if the Indonesian banks have any intentions of trying to get on to the list of banks acceptable to the main Western Banks. Transferring though internet account is by far the easiest and cheapest way to transfer money.
GDN
- Banking in Indonesia - Guide
- Evolution of banking services in Indonesia - 9 Replies
- bank fraud? - 11 Replies
- Open bank account no Kitas - 73 Replies
- Best bank for expats in Bali - 25 Replies
- Bank loans in Indonesia - 9 Replies
- Banking in Bali - 2 Replies
If you are from the UK you should consider opening an HSBC account, it makes things very easy.
Even before I moved to Indonesia I often transferred from overseas banks to BCA and Mandiri with no problems at all.
By the way, do you have your own BCA account? I think it is worth opening an HSBC account in Indonesia first and then through them opening one in the UK. Assuming you have a KITAS.....
HSBC to HSBC was very easy when I last did it about a year or so ago..
Good grief!聽 What bank in the UK told you that?聽
Rest assured, it's utter baloney!聽
In the course of our business we regularly send and receive wires from various UK banks to our BCA account.聽
Just ask the bone headed idiot who told you that to enter the BCA swift code into their computer and see what pops up:聽 CENAIDJA
My mum once was told no by Lloyd's and then once armed with printed information from their website plus the name of the regional director who went to school with me and drank mums Gin she went back and pretty much had them shut the doors to reduce the shouting from outside. The money arrived soon after.
Another time my friend had to see a bank manager in Nat West after the cashier was concerned she was money laundering.
And finally the same bank Nat West but a different branch struggled to find Indonesia on their computer and then even had to find it on a world map and contact head office to confirm Indonesia was real (those in the know, understand Indonesia is just a big Dallas type dream) and finally money arrived.
The English banking services are the best and yes that's sarcasm.
Thankfully I don't have this happen often. Sending through credit cards by my rich friends has been easier...
And having a Privilege or Premier account is not just about having free drinks and cookies and a personal account manager, it's about making international transfers without charges, preferential exchange rates and Fixed Deposit interest rates, free phone calls to their bank branches anywhere in the world etc. Furthermore, HSBC Indonesia require only Rp500 million in savings to maintain a Premier account. In the UK I believe it is almost double and in Malaysia it is around Rp700 million. And the penalty for being below that figure is only Rp250,000 per month in Indonesia and a lot more in other countries. You only need to maintain the minimum required amount in one country, not all of them.
BCA鈥檚 fee for a wire is 50k IDR or only about US $4.00.聽
Out of curiosity, what interest rate does one earn on HSBC premium savings accounts?
The interest rates at HSBC Premier? No idea at all. For a savings account almost nothing I would imagine, same as most banks. For Fixed Deposits though I use Mandiri. In fact I use Mandiri for most things, but I use HSBC mostly for international transfers and to have account managers in other countries to assist with currency exchanges and Rentas/T/T's for large amounts and to help uplift FD's overseas etc which I can do via Whatsapp.
A good thing about HSBC Premier (in Malaysia) is that they use to give mortgage loans of up to 60% without you having to provide a single income support document. Don't think they are so easy for that kind of thing over here.
But you know, BCA is a great bank. And, if you can use online banking to make a transfer from a UK bank such as Lloyds Bank to BCA for Rp50,000 and get the money in a day or so then that's should be enough for most people.
I may well be wrong, but I don't think HSBC has an office here in Bali aside from one affiliated bank in Denpasar.聽
In your neck of the woods, do the local villages have what we call here in Bali, Community Banks?聽 Our CB currently gives 12% annual interest on one year certificates of deposits which these days is unheard of.聽 They can credit that high an interest rate as they charge a premium for interest on loans.聽
In any event I find banking here in Indonesia to be much better, and with much lower administration charges than back in the US.
I haven't heard about community banks but I guess like many I prefer to keep my money in a large bank. I'll never forget back in the late 90's when I think it was more than 16 banks that shut down and millions lost their money. But 12% is high, so how much interest do they charge for loans?
Agree with you that banking here in Indonesia is much better than in other places. Even opening a multi-currency account back home can be very difficult. And these days, playing the currency markets is not a bad thing.
You can get a ton lots in other banks in Indonesia now. And better service too.
With the restrictions in place with 25.000 usd limit per month transfer, did HSBC get affected too, for global personal transfers? If it does, then the account not as useful nowadays.
For BCA you got restricted at that limit for internet transfers. You are forced to go to counter to resolve the process. 25k usd is a pittance per month. The 100k usd was not enough and now even more so.
A big hassle nowadays for paperless seamless online transfers.
These small local banks are called BPR or Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (rural banks).聽 聽
Our bank charges 15 to 17% on loans depending on amount of the loan, its purpose and length of the loan.
I was here in the late 90鈥檚 and remember the financial crisis well, but our BPR did fine and nobody has yet to lose a rupiah there.聽 It is backed by village owned land鈥hich in our village is better than the old gold reserves as they once applied in the US.聽
Of course for expats not married to an Indonesian these BPR鈥檚 or Community Banks are of little use since foreigners aren鈥檛 allowed to use them, even with a KITAS.聽 Or at least that鈥檚 the rule with our bank.聽
I can appreciate your point about large banks and the feeling of security that comes with them, but for us, 12% is impossible to beat, and we consider the risk to be zero considering the land assets which back it up.聽 But, even with that we are reluctant to put all our eggs in one basket鈥o like with any solid investment strategy, we diversify.聽
Cheers!
Ubudian wrote:@Hansson,
These small local banks are called BPR or Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (rural banks).聽 聽
Our bank charges 15 to 17% on loans depending on amount of the loan, its purpose and length of the loan.
I was here in the late 90鈥檚 and remember the financial crisis well, but our BPR did fine and nobody has yet to lose a rupiah there.聽 It is backed by village owned land鈥hich in our village is better than the old gold reserves as they once applied in the US.聽
Of course for expats not married to an Indonesian these BPR鈥檚 or Community Banks are of little use since foreigners aren鈥檛 allowed to use them, even with a KITAS.聽 Or at least that鈥檚 the rule with our bank.聽
I can appreciate your point about large banks and the feeling of security that comes with them, but for us, 12% is impossible to beat, and we consider the risk to be zero considering the land assets which back it up.聽 But, even with that we are reluctant to put all our eggs in one basket鈥o like with any solid investment strategy, we diversify.聽
Cheers!
12% is impressive. I have to admit....!
gdn47 wrote:Most responses seem to be confusing "internet transfer" with "telex transfer" or "wire". Telex transfer can be done but you must be in the UK and it is costly, at least 拢25 per transaction. I want to use my internet facility whereby I propose a payee and then send the transfer. This will only need one key press to send and the transfer should be immediate. Since it is sent via my internet bank account then it is free. I believe the list of acceptable organizations with whom the western banks will connect through the internet is common to all the western banks. Indonesian banks are not included on this list. I also found that Western Union were not able to transfer to BCA. I would appreciate your comments on the internet system transfer that can be carried out by the account holder and does not require input from the bank, except perhaps acceptance of the payee.
I bank with lloyds , I have internet banking, the cost per transfer is 9 pounds 50 p , up to a max of 15000 pounds per day , of course I can transfer to here no problem . ??
gdn47 wrote:Most responses seem to be confusing "internet transfer" with "telex transfer" or "wire". Telex transfer can be done but you must be in the UK and it is costly, at least 拢25 per transaction. I want to use my internet facility whereby I propose a payee and then send the transfer. This will only need one key press to send and the transfer should be immediate. Since it is sent via my internet bank account then it is free. I believe the list of acceptable organizations with whom the western banks will connect through the internet is common to all the western banks. Indonesian banks are not included on this list. I also found that Western Union were not able to transfer to BCA. I would appreciate your comments on the internet system transfer that can be carried out by the account holder and does not require input from the bank, except perhaps acceptance of the payee.
I think you are confusing technical details with ability of banks.
You need a SWIFT code to do international transfers from Indonesia to other global banks in the world. Once you have this Swift number, you can do internet banking and input the number and it is all done automatically, according to the correspond Swift number and bank account number.
Of course I havent done from other countries to Indonesia before. But I expect it will be the same requirements.
I never use Western Union, I don't know about now, but they use to take a big chunk of the transferred money for themselves.
I'm not sure why you're having this issue. I bank with Permata and Mandiri and money has been trasferred on several occasions from the UK and other places with no issues.
Suggest you talk to your Indo bank for further explanation
John
Which is the better bank to do business with BCA or BNI?聽 I am thinking about opening an account/debit card with BNI.聽 Any suggestions?
However, please note that in order to open a bank account in Indonesia you will need to first have a KITAS or similar long term visa.
BNI have a lot less ATMs in most areas, but the queues are a lot shorter, both at the machines and in the branches.
I was going to see if I could at least get a debit since I will be visiting a few times.聽 Not sure when I will have enough to for a long term visa considering I work daily.聽 I notice most of the locals in Bandung and Yogijarkarta talk about BNI bank.聽 I used BCA when I was in Bali and liked it.聽 Well I will check when I arrive there.聽 I was to at least get a debit card.
To open a bank account legally, you must have either a KITAS or KITAP immigration document.
A tourist visa shouldn't be accepted by the bank, but have been in the past.
I'm assured the rules have been tightened up over the last few years, so you could have a problem.
I agree 100% with the 鈥渢humbs up鈥 comments regarding BCA.聽 We鈥檝e been with them for many years and have always been happy with their service and charges.
of course the camera was not working ! I never got 1 rup in compensation .
I have used mandiri ever since with sms notification of withdrawls over 1 juta .
there are no guarantees聽 here against fraud at the banks, unlike the uk , except on deposit , so I always keep only minimum funds here . hati hati !
That said, I understand your position totally.聽 If I was "stung" to the tune of 10 million IDR through a BCA account, I wouldn't be happy with them either.聽
There is a real need here in Indonesia for something like what in the US is called the FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.聽 In a nut shell, this is insurance which protects folks from fraudulent access to their bank accounts (up to a specified level).聽 This insurance also protects depositors in the event of bank failure.聽 This insurance is automatic with each and every account in the US.聽
As expats, there is a lot we can do ourselves to protect our accounts here.聽 It鈥檚 the foreign tourists that I worry about more鈥s they are more likely to expose an account 鈥渂ack home鈥 holding significant sums to the kind of 鈥渉igh tech鈥 fraud that we see here from time to time.
It went a lot smoother when I asked if because of the need for my passport, I just transfer all my cash to BRI online and my salary every month.
I have a student who told me that he needs a bank account in the UK for business and that if he can produce a work visa from the British government, then HSBC here will open an account for him (T&C permitting as well as a large deposit) but that was interesting to see things from Indonesia looking out.
Mandiri is where I pay my daughter's school fees.
I find them extremely professional and have never had the slightest problem, but my experience with that bank is limited.
BNI is where I started banking in Indonesia.
I found them generally very good but had a few problems with tellers that needed to borrow a clue what they were doing. I should stress the majority of transactions went smoothly, but enough were a problem to make me consider moving banks. That's a little out of date now so they might well have improved. BNI were the bank with the ATM skimmer and camera, but the manager refused to believe me when I reported it.
The following Monday saw and the skimmer went away.
BCA is my currant bank.
I find them very professional and there has never been any problem at all with them. They have ATMs pretty much everywhere but queues have been known to be a problem at busy times as the bank is so popular.
A lot of big business use their services so money transfers are generally easy.
The one downside is they say they have no debit card that can be used for telephone or internet banking (No 16 digit number), insisting on a credit card for that, something I never use and don't care about having.
Same here in Bali Fred, be it BCA鈥檚 Ubud or Denpasar office.聽
Truth be told鈥 never go myself鈥s Eri has far more patience than I!聽 聽

My last visit was for a new card, but visits are limited to maybe once or twice a year.
As ATMs are very common, I usually go to them at quiet times so I don't have to bother with queues. My local 24 hour Alfamart has one, and that's just two minutes walk away from home.
Make your relocation easier with the Bali expat guide

Working in Bali
The multi-faceted island of Bali offers many opportunities for those who wish to move from tourist to expatriate ...

Studying in Bali
Even if Bali is renowned as a major tourist destination, the island is by no means limited to its idyllic beaches, ...

Accommodation in Bali
If you are planning to relocate to Bali, housing is a critical part of your project. So how do you find your home ...

Networking in Bali
Being an expat in Indonesia can be a daunting experience. Everything from the language barrier and the culture to ...

Buying property in Bali
Should your experience as an expatriate in Bali make you want to settle down permanently, you might want to buy a ...

Leisure in Bali
There are a plethora of activities to do in Bali, either by yourself, with family or friends, or with your loved ...

Getting around Bali
During your stay in Bali, you will undoubtedly need to get around on a daily basis. Although public transportation ...

Living in Bali
If you are planning to move to Bali, here is some essential information for a smooth and successful settling into ...
Forum topics on banking in Bali
大咖福利影院 for your expat journey



