JAKARTA. State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) will cooperate with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to train its staff on international transactions.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two institutions in Jakarta on Friday, the ICC will train the bank’s 100 staff to improve their skills in serving international transactions.

BNI director of treasury and financial institutions Adi Setianto said the country’s fourth biggest lender hoped the cooperation could help BNI to boost its financial trade by 30 to 50 percent next year.

 “We are about to enter the ASEAN Economic Community, which is slated to commence in 2015. We want our staff to be competent in helping our clients accessing the bigger international market and facing tougher competition in the coming years,” he said.

The MoU includes — among others — three-month training for employees to obtain a Certificate for Documentary Credit Specialists (CDCS) and a Certificate in International Trade and Finance (CITF), tests of which would be held in January.

BNI international division chief Abdullah Firman Wibowo said BNI recorded US$19.5 billion in volume for its trade finance in the third quarter of this year, up 18.5 percent compared to the same period last year. International transactions contributed about 70 percent of the trade finance volume. He said BNI expected to secure $25 billion this year. (The Jakarta Post)

Editor: Asnil Amri