The Knowledge to Decide

Indonesian banks have launched a novel channel that allows customers to withdraw cash through drive-through automated teller machines (ATMs). However, Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, sounded a cautionary note on the risks and limitations of the new platform. Drive-through ATMs have become more common in countries across the Asia Pacific, such as China (through Citibank), Australia (through Bendigo Bank and NAB) and particularly Indonesia. Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) first launched its drive-through ATM service in 2004, and is now seeing an average usage rate of approximately 7,600 transactions per month in each of its 29 drive-through destinations. BNI plans to expand this service with an additional 15 new drive-through ATMs for motorcycles in 2014. However, Bahar commented that security concerns – especially issues pertaining to magnetic ATM card cloning and robbery – would deter customers from transacting at drive-through ATMs

As non-bank financial service activity expands in Asia, does the region need a more unified set of banking regulations? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, remarked that Asian banks and governments should be at the forefront of pushing for better global regulations on non-bank financial activities, rather than forming alternative regional standards. At stake is the delivery of financial services for Asia’s huge unbanked and under-banked population. Perera commented that unified banking regulations across the Asia-Pacific region should come via global multi-lateral platforms. Asian governments should work with each other to form an effective regional voice for improvements in global financial regulatory regimes. The implementation of the Basel I, Basel II and Base III standards after the global financial crisis had not been easy in Asia, due to various inconsistencies. Moreover, the Basel reforms were reportedly too Europe and US market centr

Indonesia’s aquaculture industry is ranked 4th globally in terms of production tons. Franklin Crum, Manager, Client Service of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views on the future outlook for Indonesia’s aquaculture industry on MNC Business Channel – Economic Buzz. Crum commented that Indonesia’s water conditions have provided a favourable environment for wet aquaculture (otherwise known as fish farming); allowing a wide range of tropical fish species to breed. The aquaculture industry has shown great potential in Indonesia; contributing 1% towards its GDP. Indonesia is one of the leading Asian countries in this industry, alongside China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Japan and Bangladesh. The industry had registered a total revenue of USD 7 billion in 2012, seeing compound annual growth (CAGR) of 25.9% between 2008 and 2012. The figure is expected to grow to USD14.3 billion by 2017. Crum shared that the Indonesian government has allocate

With a fast-growing population of internet subscribers and Android smartphone users, India is now seen as an Android country. Leading smartphone players in India have adopted Android, including local players such as Karbonn and Micromax, as well as Chinese players such as Huawei and ZTE. Saurabh Sharma, India Country Manager for Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views on the outlook for Android in CXOToday. With 40 million smartphones in the country, 91% of India’s market share belongs to devices using Google’s mobile operating system, Android. Sharma commented that the rise of Android can be attributed to the accessibility of low-priced Android-based smartphones which come with an array of features, as well as the cheaper data plans for these phones offered by telco carriers. The availability of diverse Android-based applications has also swayed consumer preferences. Sharma opined that smartphone marketers in India are planning to introduce additional value-added fea

Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, was invited to share his views on sugar consumption trends on Channel NewsAsia – Money Mind. He observed that sugar consumption in Singapore will decline in the long term, akin to what has been seen in North America and Europe, thanks to rising health literacy and government health campaigns. Natural sweetener producers would need to work hard to find their niche in terms of taste, pricing and a fact-based health message. Sugar is now into its 4th year of global surplus production, primarily thanks to Brazil, Thailand and India. This has exerted downward pressure on prices. Sugar consumption is foreseen to grow below the growth rate of the global population in the next 5 to 10 years. High intensity natural sweetener is now a niche market that faces good growth prospects. However, there are regulatory hurdles facing the industry. What’s more, there is a lot to be done in educating and convincing consumers t

Mobile and digital banking are now the drivers of rural banking. Many banks in South East Asia are intensively reaching out to the rural unbanked population. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views on this growing industry trend in FST Media. Bahar observed that many banks in Indonesia are now targeting the unbanked. Only about a quarter of the Indonesian population has access to traditional banking services. Besides, with Indonesia’s mobile phone usage running at over a 100 per cent penetration rate, it is natural for banks to offer mobile financial solutions to the unbanked. To better target this market, some banks are partnering with microfinance institutions to enable the unbanked to sign up for a bank account the paperless way. These institutions would then help users to conduct banking transactions via their mobile devices. Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, has launched a pilot program, ‘Mobile Payment S

India remains a desirable investment destination for Japanese companies. Today, over a thousand Japanese companies operate in India, versus 550 in 2008. Despite the fascination with India, what challenges do Japanese companies face as they grow their India operations? Miyuki Morozumi, Director of Japanese Client Service of Spire Research and Consulting, shared her views in Thik Hai Magazine, a leading periodical of the Japanese community in India. Japanese companies are clearly adopting a more aggressive stance in entering the India market. Morozumi remarked that the National Capital Region (NCR) in particular has been a magnet for Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. Out of the 1,804 Japanese companies located in India, approximately 29% of them (517) were located within this region as at November 2012. She observed that Japanese investment in India is largely focused on manufacturing, with industrial and automotive production concentrated in the South. Howev

Singapore’s 2013 economic growth was revised upwards from 3.7% to 4.1%, thanks to a last-minute surge in manufacturing. Does this portend better times to come? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views on Singapore’s economic performance on Channel NewsAsia – Business Central . Perera commented that Singapore’s economic growth exceed expectations and this reflected an improving climate for exports, mainly driven by developed country growth. This would last into 2014 because of the on-going recovery in the US, improvements in Northern Europe, the momentum from Abe-nomics in Japan and a still-respectable showing from China. On the other hand, the domestic retail sector was losing some ground. Perera shared that this was partly due to a slowdown in tourist arrival and spending growth, as a result of slower growth in regional economies like China and India. In contrast, the wholesale market will see some forward momentum on the back

Singapore will mark its 50th anniversary of independence in 2015. In conjunction with the country’s upcoming Golden Jubilee, Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views in The Business Times – Views from the Top section on what Singapore’s economy and society would look like in 2065. In the future, technology would have eliminated much of the manual labor that humans perform today. Robots will revolutionize work in the home, elder-care as well as the personal services industry. Commercial space flight will accelerate the growth of globalization and enhance innovation, thanks to people being able to meet face-to-face with far less time spent in travel. On the other hand, 3D printing coupled with big data analytics will revolutionize the traditional manufacturing model of economies of scale in favor of mass customization. In addition, stricter Green and ethics regulations will foster Greener, safer and fairer processes in the work

Indonesia’s mobile phone market is poised for growth. With the advent of smartphones and 4G Technology, how will service operators continue to lure customers? Aditya Teja, Senior Manager, Client Service (Telecommunication) of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights on MNC Business Channel – Economic Buzz. Indonesia’s mobile phone market holds immense potential with approximately 310 million subscribers recorded in 2013. There are a total of 10 service operators in Indonesia at present; with Telkomsel leading the way, followed by Indosat and XL Axiata. At present, the market is segmented by varying consumer concerns on benefits and bonuses, rather than price wars. With the advent of 4G Technology, service operators foresee faster and improved quality connections to come; with voice, SMS and data remaining as the main sources of revenue. On the other hand, the telecommunication industry also lends support to other industries such as banking, multimedia and health