INDONESIA has launched its first bullion banks in a bid to draw tonnes of privately held gold into the financial system of South-east Asia’s largest economy.
The region’s largest gold producer on Wednesday (Feb 26) inaugurated gold banking services at state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia and pawn broker Pegadaian, a unit of state-run banking giant Bank Rakyat Indonesia, with officials saying more licences could follow.
President Prabowo Subianto, speaking alongside dozens of ministers and other officials at a launch event in central Jakarta, said he hoped the move would accelerate savings and boost gold reserves, which he said were already the world’s sixth largest.
“Indonesia is a rich country,” he said. Bullion banking “can help save the country’s foreign exchange, because from upstream to downstream gold will be processed and stored domestically,” helping to increase monetary stability.
He said he expected the move to boost economic growth and create jobs.
Erick Thohir, minister of state-owned enterprises, said Indonesians privately held about 1,800 tonnes of gold. “We want to invite the public to trust the formal financial system,” he said, adding that the bullion banks would offer services in gold deposits, pawnbroking, financing and direct trading.
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The launch marks the culmination of a years-long process in Indonesia, which has trailed regional neighbours in developing bullion banks despite being one of South-east Asia’s top gold consumers and home to one of the world’s largest gold mines, Grasberg. Officials in the resource-rich country have viewed the rise of bullion banking as broadly in line with ongoing efforts to move up the commodities value chain that have included forcing copper and nickel miners to invest in domestic refining.
Bullion banks store, trade and lend gold that’s often sourced from consumer deposits. Globally, bullion banking is dominated by large banks such as JPMorgan Chase and HSBC Holdings. Their businesses span from facilitating the trades of New York hedge funds to shipping gold to China to meet the demands of the world’s biggest consumer market.
As in many Asian countries, gold in Indonesian is seen as a safe way to save money for major expenses including houses and weddings. Much of the stash held by ordinary citizens is kept at home, outside of the banking system, in the form of jewelry or small bars.
The advent of bullion banking in Indonesia echoes similar efforts by Turkey and India in recent years to bring the large stashes of gold owned by ordinary citizens into their financial systems. Both schemes met with mixed success, with many gold owners opting to still keep their precious metals at home. BLOOMBERG
