Banking hours in Bali are Mon-Fri 8am-4/5pm. Some may open Sat 8am - 11am, but this depends on the bank and is not the rule.
The busiest times are Mondays, particularly, and anytime between 9am and 3pm. You will line up for a long time if you have a local account. Getting a local account is easy and the most popular banks are BCA, BII, BNI. Many expats get a safety deposit box in a bank. These are secure and cost 380,000rp per year.
If you are wondering which bank is the best for opening an account at, BCA gives the most interest, but has the most bank charges. BII has the least charges, but gives the least interest. If you have an Indonesian bank account and need to deposit of withdraw over $1,000, you should do that before 2pm, otherwise the staff may not want to help you.
Changing money in a bank is possible, even if you don’t have an account. You sit at the desk, rather than lining up and a staff member will serve you. The good thing about changing money at a bank is there is way less chance of deception. Banks will also cash travelers checks, although these are used way less than 10 years ago, due to ATM machines.
Bank Mandiri has a pretty nifty website with a lot of online services. BCA is a very popular bank with many ATM’s. If you are looking for a BCA branch ask for ‘Beh Che Ah’ , that’s how its pronounced. BNI is another popular local bank. The Yellow Pages here in Bali has a complete listing of all the banks and branches.
Comments on this entry are closed.