Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Hello,
I am coming to Bali for 6 months or more in April and I would like to know if it is okay to open a bank account in Bali.

Thanks

Claire

Sure, no problem.

I think BCA and BII are pretty easy, where BCA has more ATM's available.

Just take your passport and some money.

CitiBank and ABN AMRO ask for a minimum balance of 50 million rupiah's, BCA and BII don't.

Does it matter what currency? US$, AUD$ etc?

Hmm, I tried to open a bank account. I have a multiple entry business visa. In BNI, Danamon and Mandiri they all asked for a kitas or a balinese KTP. Next bank I went to is Permata, they allowed me to open a account with a passport.

I tried to open a BCA account in Sanur a few months ago. They told me I had to have a KITAS.

A very close friend of mine (and long-term resident in Bali), uses a Dutch (?) International bank in Denpasar. He's found it relatively more efficient than local banks. I don't have the details at hand but if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll dig them out of my computer. There is a minimum opening deposit of about USD 2,000 (I think). It might be less.

BCA do ask for a kitas. I find them pretty good - at least they have internet banking! and most businesses seem to have BCA accounts, so I can pay by direct transfer when doing business.

If it's only for 6 months maybe you could set up something with your own bank - they could have a relationship with a bank in Indonesia where you can access your $$.

of course there is always ATMS to access your funds from your own bank, but you probably know that

somebody have experience with citibank? i hear that they have international giro account. You must have to open one account in your country, and we can use that acocount in every country, incl. Indonesia, without pay extra fee.

Citibank: minimum amount to HAVE and KEEP on your account is 50 million. Dunno about their "international connections", but as far as I know Citibank US and Citibank ID are seperate entities...

I once opened an account with BII with just a passport, long time ago. They have internet banking as well, but not so many ATM's. So you tend to use other banks ATM's and you pay 25.000 rp extra all the time.

Thank you Bert, i keep my BNI account (from Jakarta-office) ... and maybe will open BCA account in Bali on summer 2007, than i spend more time in Bali than Jakarta. I think it´s okay just with KTP DKI Jakarta, isnt´it? Have a nice day for you all.

I have just sent my application off for opening an account at HSBC Jakarta. We have all our UK accounts with HSBC and have found them very good indeed, what are they like in Indo though? Anybody has had any experience with them there? Cheers!

No experience whatsoever with HSBC or their ATM's in Bali from my part. We tend to rely on BII and BCA at the moment.

I Have opened BII & BNI with no problems. Even got my ATM card there & then with BII.

Its a lot easier to open a bank account in Indonesia than it is in England I can tell you!

I was moving money around in Bali last year and had no problems opening USD$ and AUD$ bank accounts with BII.

However, 2 weeks ago I tried opening an IDR and ran into difficulties. They definately do want you to have a KITAS now - which is a problem for me. Anyway, with a little persuasion I was able to get it sorted - already having a foreign currency account was a help I'm sure. Otherwise you have to get someone to sponsor you I believe.

Hey, its Indonesia - if you have the time, patience and a little $, anything can get done

one option that i was enlightened to is to open an account with one of the larger money changers...

they issue a "checkbook" that can be cashed at their branches, and the accounts (IDR and USD) do bear monthly interest. in addition, its easy to move money in and out via tt or remittance.

i was told by a reliable (non-bank) source that during the monetary crisis ("crismo") many expats moved their funds from banks to the better funded and less exposed larger money changers.

to open an account with a bank, a kitas is mandatory (as far as i know).

this is a decent option, though seemingly more risky, i dont think it is. (plenty of banks sank during the cris-mo).

eg try Kuta Central or the like.

According to my account manager at Permata Bank in denpasar Bank Indonesia has just issued new regulations on the opening of bank accounts by foreigners - specificly if you can demonstrate you have a visa that shows you can legally be in Indonesia for 2 months or greater a foreigner can open a bank account.

Finally some smart govt officials have figured out that their restrictions on bank accounts for foreigners was a detterent to foreign investment.

pm me if you want contact details for my account manager.

Hallo,

our costs for PLN are paid by our account at the bank BNI monthly during the whole year. Before leaving Bali we put some million rp there and after returning we get the invoices from the bank.
Very easy and save.
Johannes