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State-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia plans to open a second branch in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year as part of a push to tap the Middle East banking industry.

BNI, Indonesia’s fourth-largest bank by assets, plans to open a branch in Jeddah, said Adi Setianto, director for treasury and finance. The bank plans to open additional branches in Mecca and Medina.

BNI currently operates a single location in Riyadh, as well as branches in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

T Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (the Bank) is an Indonesia-based financial institution. Its products and services include credit, savings, credit card and Internet banking. The Bank through its subsidiaries also engaged in securities services, financing, life insurance and sharia banking, which consists of funding and financing products based on sharia principles.

As of December 31, 2011, it was supported by 168 domestic branches, 912 domestic sub-branches, four overseas branches located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, and one representative office in New York. The Bank’s subsidiaries are PT BNI Life Insurance, PT BNI Multifinance, PT BNI Securities, BNI Remittance Ltd. and PT Bank BNI Syariah.

“There is a large potential [in Saudi Arabia]. Not to mention Saudi Arabia is an entryway to Africa,” Adi told the Indonesian news portal kontan.co.id.

The bank plans to target remittance payments from Indonesian migrant workers and maids living in the Saudi cities, said Firman Wibowo, head of BNI’s international division.

“The remittance potential from 1.5 million Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia reaches $200 million a year,” he told the Antara News Agency. “And there are also the Indonesian Embassy’s $30 million core deposits, not to mention [funds from] Indonesian companies operating there.”

BNI has established partnerships with a number of local banks, including Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank and the Arab National Bank, as the lender eyes expanding deeper into the Middle East and North Africa.

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