The central bank has ordered 23 banks to stop signing up customers for high-end premium accounts for at least a month amid a probe into an embezzlement case at Citibank Indonesia’s wealth management unit, one of its executives said on Friday.
The policy was the latest in a series of steps taken by BI as the police probed the case of a Citibank premium banking relationship manager who allegedly embezzled Rp 20 billion ($2.3 million) from the accounts of clients she handled.
Citibank, one of the leading onshore wealth managers in Indonesia along with Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse, said it had uncovered suspicious transactions in its Indonesian operations but would not specify the size of the loss.
Foreign banks such as Citi, HSBC, Standard Chartered and DBS Bank, which do not have many local branches and have limited networks, would suffer more of an impact from BI’s decision than local banks.
The industry-wide suspension applies to priority or premium customers, who may have savings of more than $50,000, and high net worth individuals who typically invest more than $1 million.
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