MUFG Bank
In a category that was dominated by the likes of Citibank, Standard Chartered and HSBC in Indonesia, there’s a new face in town. It is Japanese and it is big: the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s biggest bank and the world’s fifth largest.
MUFG first arrived at Danamon in December, when it replaced Singapore’s sovereign Temasek’s 15-year-long investment in Indonesia’s sixth-largest bank. MUFG has already been making its presence felt by ratcheting up activity in Indonesia’s flourishing SME sector, car financing and home mortgages in a bid to tap into the country’s 250-million-strong, fast-expanding middle class.
Under MUFG, Danamon has also moved to merge with the small Bank Nusantara Parahyangan. MUFG has also taken stakes in Vietinbank of Vietnam, Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya and Security Bank of the Philippines, while Japan’s second-largest bank, Sumitomo Mitsui, has followed MUFG by also moving to increase its exposure to Indonesia, buying into medium-sized lender BTPN.
And the rush to get set in Indonesia hasn’t just been Japanese. South Korea’s Shinhan Bank recently bid for Bank Metro Ekspres, while China’s Construction Bank bought the small Bank Windu in 2016. Expect more of the same.