Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Hi, ronb

...I was able to get and IDR account at the Commonwealth Bank in Jl Teuku Umar before I got a Kitas. There was a lot of paperwork and I am not sure exactly what made it possible, but I already had Commonwealth accounts in Australia...

As far as I know, the reason you could open a Commonwealth bank account here is because you already have one in Australia.
That's my understanding of their requirements.

Should try with Panin bank,I get a account last feb 2007!!
Only not in Bali but Malang.
And without a KITAS.
Grtz

Jimbo wrote:I opened an account without a Kitas but only because I have friends who helped me. I can even access it from the internet and transfer funds but as a rule it is no however there may be a way if you can find a friend.

Good luck

Hi Jimbo - what Bank did you open an account with and how did your friends help you? Also - when did you open this account?

Mr Leslie - that was the thread Matselah gave you originally in this string - Jimbo's account of how he opened an account without a kitas

http://www.bali-information.com/expat_f ... bank+kitas

Sounds like I'll have to get married to a Balinese girl and then all my Banking problems will be solved ! Any offers?

Hi all! We live in England and have a Premier Account with HSBC. Last year we opened a dollar account with HSBC in Surabaya with no problems. But now HSBC premier acc has truly gone global, this means that if you have an account at HSBC England for example, you'll also be recognised as a customer at every branch all over the world! (Before you weren't as HSBC's systems weren't connected between countries)

Premier Acc means no ATM fees anyway, but now through an acc in England you could even get a mortgage for a property in countries like Indonesia! This is great for people like us who don't have KITAS.

We have good experience this year. My husband and I opened account in Germany (DKB-Bank) and it´s works: We use Visa plus/Visa Elektron and no fees by ATM transaction. So we don´t need to bring any cash more... ATM with Visa plus or Visa Elektron can we find everywhere in this world.
I think the other Bank of the word offer this option too...

going back to irma's post ..... is there a hsbc branch in singaraja or depasar ?

irma1812 wrote:Hi all! We live in England and have a Premier Account with HSBC. Last year we opened a dollar account with HSBC in Surabaya with no problems. But now HSBC premier acc has truly gone global, this means that if you have an account at HSBC England for example, you'll also be recognised as a customer at every branch all over the world! (Before you weren't as HSBC's systems weren't connected between countries)

Premier Acc means no ATM fees anyway, but now through an acc in England you could even get a mortgage for a property in countries like Indonesia! This is great for people like us who don't have KITAS.

Hi Irma - I am not sure if HSBC exist in Den Pasar or Bali but it would be interesting to try to open a US$ a/c with them if they do have a Bali Branch. I wonder if you could also open a Rupiah a/c?

I called HSBC this morning. There isn't a branch or ATM in Denpasar. I was told that it would be possible to apply for an account in Surabaya from Canada (CAD $150 fee). The representative told me that I could transfer funds on-line or by telephone between the accounts. This is true of all levels of account. Not only Premier.

This eliminates the necessity of having someone on the ground here to wire funds to me, but I would still be on the hook for network (Cirrus etc) fees to make withdrawals using another institution's ATMs.

This might work fine for small amounts but we would still need to deposit funds into my wife's account somehow for larger requirements.

I was also told that the balance requirement for an HSBC Premier account here is CAD $150,000 and in Indonesia is 500 Juta Rp... keep in mind that that is CASH balance and not mixed assets!

Matur Suksma,
Bli Gede

HSBC in Surabaya seems to have different rules than their branch in Jakarta. When I called them last May, they required a kitas visa to open a local account eventhough I keep a US HSBC account however not a Premier... can't exactly afford to maintain half a billion rupiah in a cash account and if I could I certainly wouldn't want to keep that kind of money on a cash account.

Unfortunately there's no HSBC branch in Bali yet, but you can use any CIRRUS ATMs all over the world anyway, so don't worry about not having HSBC own ATMs.

At HSBC England if you don't have a big enough investment you can also get Premier acc by paying £19.99 p/m fee if you have a mortgage of min £100k with them. The great thing about Premier acc is the fact that it has gone truly global like I said in my previous post.

By the way Bli Gede, yes you could transfer funds between accs without having Premier acc, however it costs £21 per transaction from England! With Premier acc it's free! If you do this regularly it all adds up!

"Balance requirement for an HSBC Premier account in Canada is CAD $150,000 and in Indonesia is 500 Juta Rp": we don't have Rp500 juta in Indonesia acc, they basically took our investment at HSBC UK into account. So we don't even have to pay the fee for Premier acc in Indonesia either!

Maybe I can give some background as to why you will find it difficult/impossible to open a Rupiah Bank A/C in Indonesia without a KITAS. The very simple reason is that Bank Indonesia (BI, the Central Bank of Indonesia) has FORBIDDEN it.

Early 2001 BI has introduced some rules to try to limit Rupiah / foreign currency speculation. Overnight the Central Bank introduced a set of foreign exchange restrictions which allowed certain foreign exchange transactions with non-residents only in case these transactions were covered by transactions in the real economy (e.g. import/export, investment in Indonesia etc.). One of the main and ultimately very effective measures was to prohibit Rupiah A/C for non-residents. Since this measure is as far as I know still valid today, non-resident companies, banks and natural persons are not allowed to open a Rupiah account with a bank, foreign or Indonesian, in Indonesia. Only residents are allowed to open a savings or current account in Rupiah. If you have a KITAS, stay permit, retirement visa you qualify as a resident. There are no restrictions for non-residents as to opening a foreign currency account with a bank in Indonesia.

As I was working for a foreign bank in Jakarta at that time, I remember the introduction of this regulation quite well. Typically BI announced these foreign exchange restrictions retro-actively and with Draconian penalties for any bank not obeying the rules. Panic all around, because of course most banks (foreign and Indonesian) were involved in Rupiah speculation and almost all banks were caught with their pants down. If the penalties had gone through on the day of introduction of those forex measures, many banks would have been 'bankrut' instantly. Of course that is not what BI intended, but it did serve the purpose of bringing the message home, loud and clear.

Of course Indonesia being Indonesia, even the impossible is possible. I think in another thread Jimbo mentioned that he has been able to open a Rupiah account, even when he is a non-resident. Obviously bank-employees can make mistakes, either as a true accident or on purpose. (Being a resident or not is probably just one flag of many in the customer file in their computer system.) However, Bank Indonesia is not an institution the banks in Indonesia like to fool around with, especially not when they run a financial risk in doing so. I therefore doubt that as a non-resident you will be able to find a bank willing to open a Rupiah account for you, unless they are stupid or an extremely good friend. Your best chances are when they are both.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Laj, that's the clearest answer I've heard to the question, ever. It explains alot.

Laj wrote:Maybe I can give some background as to why you will find it difficult/impossible to open a Rupiah Bank A/C in Indonesia without a KITAS. The very simple reason is that Bank Indonesia (BI, the Central Bank of Indonesia) has FORBIDDEN it.

Early 2001 BI has introduced some rules to try to limit Rupiah / foreign currency speculation. Overnight the Central Bank introduced a set of foreign exchange restrictions which allowed certain foreign exchange transactions with non-residents only in case these transactions were covered by transactions in the real economy (e.g. import/export, investment in Indonesia etc.). One of the main and ultimately very effective measures was to prohibit Rupiah A/C for non-residents. Since this measure is as far as I know still valid today, non-resident companies, banks and natural persons are not allowed to open a Rupiah account with a bank, foreign or Indonesian, in Indonesia. Only residents are allowed to open a savings or current account in Rupiah. If you have a KITAS, stay permit, retirement visa you qualify as a resident. There are no restrictions for non-residents as to opening a foreign currency account with a bank in Indonesia.

As I was working for a foreign bank in Jakarta at that time, I remember the introduction of this regulation quite well. Typically BI announced these foreign exchange restrictions retro-actively and with Draconian penalties for any bank not obeying the rules. Panic all around, because of course most banks (foreign and Indonesian) were involved in Rupiah speculation and almost all banks were caught with their pants down. If the penalties had gone through on the day of introduction of those forex measures, many banks would have been 'bankrut' instantly. Of course that is not what BI intended, but it did serve the purpose of bringing the message home, loud and clear.

Of course Indonesia being Indonesia, even the impossible is possible. I think in another thread Jimbo mentioned that he has been able to open a Rupiah account, even when he is a non-resident. Obviously bank-employees can make mistakes, either as a true accident or on purpose. (Being a resident or not is probably just one flag of many in the customer file in their computer system.) However, Bank Indonesia is not an institution the banks in Indonesia like to fool around with, especially not when they run a financial risk in doing so. I therefore doubt that as a non-resident you will be able to find a bank willing to open a Rupiah account for you, unless they are stupid or an extremely good friend. Your best chances are when they are both.

Hope this helps.

Very clear and helpful. However, my experience is that the banks do't want to open a foreign currecy account either without a Kitas, but then again, my main thrust was to open a Rupiah account and so I guess I'll go back and try again. Thanks a lot.

Hi FreoGirl and Mr Leslie,

I'm glad this has been of some help.

Concerning opening a foreign currency account: Obviously most banks will not be keen to open even a foreign currency account for you if you are a non-resident. These banks will calculate that the chances of earning any real money on you are slim, as you probably will use the account for smallish amounts and a few transactions only. You should try to convince the bank that you will be an interesting client for them.

Your best chances are, as has been mentioned in this forum, to try with a foreign bank in Indonesia you are already a client of abroad.