Bank Mandiri, an Indonesia-based bank, is all set to launch a new branch in Kuala Lumpur for collecting remittances from the scores of Indonesians working in Malaysia – reported Reuters.
According to the state agency in chage of migrant workers, in 2008, migrant Indonesians working in Malaysia, Middle East and Singapore had sent home approximately $8.2 billion. However, this year remittances are expected to witness a 10% drop, as firms are laying off workers owing to the ongoing global economic crisis.
Against this backdrop, in a text message sent to the news agency, Thomas Arifin, director for International Banking, said that the remittance unit would help the bank to increase its fee-based income. “The bank will initially cover millions of Indonesian workers who are working in Malaysia by progressively extending the number of outlets,” he added.
