State-owned Bank Mandiri plans to expand its business throughout the Southeast Asian. (Image credit: Independensi)

Indonesian-owned bank Mandiri enlarges business to Cambodia and Laos

Jakarta-headquartered Bank Mandiri revealed a plan to expand its business in Southeast Asia countries which are Cambodia and Laos since both of the countries’ markets are fairly large.

On Friday, Bank Mandiri Corporate Secretary Rohan Nafas said Cambodia and Laos are currently developing and potentials on the financial market from both countries are widely open.

According to Nafas, Bank Mandiri will focus on the expansion of banking and financial Industry although the company hasn’t yet made a decision on a particular business that they wanted to invest in Cambodia and Laos.

A large investment fund between 21 – 22 percent has been prepared by Bank Mandiri to enter the two neighbor countries’ markets.

In addition to Cambodia and Laos, the state-own bank was also targeting the Philippines. According to President Director of Bank Mandiri Kartiko Wirjoatmodjo, the Philippines is less crowded than Indonesia, therefore, the opportunities to expand the banking industry in the country are considerably large.

However, due to the unstable condition of banking and financial industry in the Philippines, Bank Mandiri had to cancel its plan to acquire two banks in the country.

Previously, Bank Mandiri also mentioned its plan to open a branch office in Malaysia, but the company has to re-consider it because there are CIMB Niaga and Maybank – the two biggest banks in Malaysia. The Indonesian-owned bank has to compete with the two local banks in order to penetrate Malaysia’s market.

Source: https://en.antaranews.com/news/130358/bank-mandiri-to-expand-business-in-laos-cambodia