Interesting. How much deposit can they typically handle? Eg, is 2-3 M too much? Any significant risk of loss?
@Jamu,
Most BPR can handle deposit of Rp 2 Milyar per nasabah (that's the maximum amount a single person can deposit under his/her name while still having the term deposit being insured by LPS, to the conditions that the term deposit remains in the frame of what is considered safe banking practice by LPS).
It pays to shop around and talk to the executives of the BPR if you intend to use their service and invest a sizeable amount with them. They can provide you any financial information you wish to know about them, type of risk they take, laporan keuangan (which will give you all information on the amount of term deposit they handle among many other info)...etc
If you intend to invest more than 2 M you can split the term deposits under the name of family members like wife and kids, in order to keep them insured, or split your investment in several BPR.
With deposits of over 2M, you will benefit from astonishing and personalized service like having your money and bilyet picked up/remitted at home, VIP parking place in front of the bank, birthday cakes and gifts for your/your wife/your kids/your dog birthday + at Christmas or Lebaran which will quickly made you hate Indonesian pastry, voucher belanja, logam mulia, a battery of small ugly but appreciated commercial gifts you can give to staff like payung, pens, calendars, mugs...etc.
I have been banking for term deposits over the past 15 years with 3 BPRs of my city (still do with 2) and have only positive things to say about them.
An anecdote: A few years ago I picked up a large cash amount from a BPR for a last minute business trip abroad. I collected the money but didn't check it one by one after it being counted by the machine.
A couple of days later, arrived at my destination in Northen Thailand I went to a reputable money changer. Money stayed right in front of me while being handled by the money changer staff and it appeared that a Rp5K note was inside a Rp 100k bundle.
Later, back to my business partner house I gave a phone call to my wife and, in the course of the conversation, told her about the Rp 5K note. I was expecting nothing from it and just found the mistake amusing.
A month later, when back home, I had the surprise to have the DirUt of the BPR, accompanied by the Account manager visiting me the day of my arrival and handing me an envelop with a Rp 100K note! I didn't ask for anything, just talk to my wife about the 5K note who in turn talked to the account manager in an informal conversation.
No need to say that if it would have happened in Mandiri, BCA or any other big bank umum, no-one would have visited me to give me money back of a loss I had incurred and where I could not prove that it was a bank mistake.