*Winter is coming to Jakarta soon?* Merill Lynch, Deutsche quit Indonesia's stock market, Nomura may follow
- News Desk The Jakarta Post Jakarta / Wed, July 24, 2019 / 05:08 pm Foreign affiliated securities companies PT Merrill Lynch Sekuritas Indonesia and PT Deutsche Sekuritas will withdraw from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) following their decision to stop stock trading in the country. IDX president director Inarno Djajadi said the withdrawal of Merrill and Deutsche Sekuritas from stock trading in Indonesia might be part of their global business consolidation. In addition to Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Sekuritas, Japanese securities company Nomura Sekuritas Indonesia is also likely to follow suit. But Inarno said Nomura still maintains its brokerage seat at the IDX even though the company was not trading. Meanwhile, the IDX’s trading director Laksono Widodo said in Jakarta on Wednesday that Merrill Lynch Indonesia, part of Bank of America, would return its brokerage seat by the end of July, this year. "The company will return its brokerage seat and quit its brokerage activities by the end of this month,” he was quoted by *kontan.co <http://kontan.co>* as saying. Laksono said Merrill would be given a year to sell its brokerage seat to another company. But, if the seat attracted no buyers, the IDX would buy back its membership, he added. Merrill Lynch Sekuritas, which was established in Jakarta on Dec. 5, 1994, was among the first foreign securities companies to operate in Indonesia. The company has not traded since July 10. According to data obtained by Kontan, Merrill’s business in Indonesia has been fairly good. As of March, its profits rose 37.5 percent to Rp 9.02 billion (US$657,483) year-on-year. Its total revenues rose 4.05 percent to Rp 18.73 billion. The transactions handled by Merrill reached Rp 45.25 trillion during the first half. Laksono said Deustche Sekuritas Indonesia would also withdraw from stock trading as part of the global consolidation of its parent company Deutsche Bank, which has recently closed equity trading across the Asia-Pacific region. (hen)
