Why Bloomberg Loves Indonesia

Double-Digit Reasons: Financial news provider tight-lipped on its domestic growth figures

Jakarta Globe, Dion Bisara, Mar 26, 2015

File photo of Bloomberg chairman Peter T. Grauer taken in 2012. He met with GlobeAsia again in an interview on March 26, 2015. He said the company had expanded its news footprint in Indonesia ‘a little bit’ to better cover news, data and analysis ‘on Indonesia and from Indonesians,’ an investment that has reaped ‘solid double-digit growth.’ (GA Photo)

Jakarta. Bloomberg, the world’s biggest provider of financial data and news, is reaping the benefit of it expansion in Indonesia in the past three years, having seen its business grow by double digits with more banks, mutual funds and corporate treasuries signing up for its dealing platform.

Bloomberg Business News grew by more than 12 percent last year, with an average of double-digit growth over the last 10 years, according to company data.

Bloomberg chairman Peter T. Grauer told GlobeAsia in an interview on Thursday that the company remained upbeat about the growth potential in Indonesia.

“The areas we’ve been particularly focused on here revolve around the mutual fund market, [and] we [are] quite proactive with our Instant Bloomberg Dealing platform in the forex market,” he said.

“We have expanded our news footprint a little bit so we can cover local news better, and we’ve seen benefits from that investment in seeing solid double-digit growth in our business here.”

The company launched Instant Bloomberg Dealing, a chat-based platform for foreign exchange traders, in 2013, and more than 40 local banks have signed up for foreign exchange and money market trading.

They join more than 100 global banks across 46 countries that use the platform for trade negotiations, execution and processing.

The instant dealing platform complemented Bloomberg Fxgo, a multi-bank trading platform offering commission-free electronic foreign exchange trading.

“We are seeing that as Indonesia’s economy continues to grow, so does the market for news, data and analysis on Indonesia and from Indonesians,” Grauer said.

Bloomberg added 5,660 desktop terminals last year, reaching a global installed base of 324,399, putting the company’s 2014 financial market revenue at an estimated $8.5 billion per year, according to a report from business market researcher Burton-Taylor International Consulting.

Bloomberg said that 18 percent of its revenue came from Asia. No specific data for Indonesia on terminal subscriptions, market share or revenue was given.

Bloomberg is the market leader in providing global financial market data services, with 32 percent market share last year, followed by Thompson Reuters at 26 percent.

Grauer was in Jakarta for a 24-hour visit on Thursday to attend the second annual Indonesian Fund Managers Association (Aprdi)-Bloomberg Indonesia Fund Awards to recognize the nation’s best mutual funds — “one of the key markets for Bloomberg in Indonesia,” Grauer said.

The country’s mutual fund assets under management grew by 19 percent last year to Rp 228 trillion ($17.5 billion).

Grauer said that Bloomberg remained committed to providing financial education, setting up the Bloomberg terminal in classrooms at nearly 800 universities and business schools worldwide.

In Indonesia, schools including Prasetiya Mulya Business School, the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University and Diponegoro University are installing Bloomberg terminals to simulate real-world trading environments for their students.

GlobeAsia subscribes to the Bloomberg news service and terminal.

GlobeAsia