AN UNLIKELY LINK WITH ARKANSAS
Mochtar Riady and Jackson Stephens have difficulty conversing with each other. Riady's English is rather weak and Stephens has no Chinese -- there's not much call for the language in Arkansas, where he lives. Yet since they met by chance in 1976, Riady and Stephens have been close friends. And their relationship has had some extraordinary consequences.
Worthen Banking Corp, the largest commercial bank holding company in the Ozark mountain state of Arkansas with $2.1 billion in assets, is now largely owned by Indonesians of Chinese origin. And the president of Worthen's lead bank is Riady's favourite son James, a friendly man with flawless English, ambitious to build a banking network and quite at ease in the US.
The elder Riady and Stephens have common ground: both are uncommonly wealthy. Stephens, and his older brother Wilton, known as Witt, are proprietors of Stephens Inc in Arkansas, the largest US investment bank outside New York. Each brother is worth about $500 million net. And Riady is the most prominent banker in Indonesia, close confidant of billionaire Liem Sioe Liong, who is a long-time friend of President Suharto.
Riady senior, like other key figures in the overseas Chinese community, has become increasingly anxious to diversify from his home base.