Can an employee as PIC represent an expatriate personally to make payments on behalf of himself/herself to the bank from the expatriate's personal account? If it is allowed, is it enough just to include a power of attorney? For information, the transactions that will be carried out are quite large in value. Are there any rules, restrictions, or prohibitions governing this?
DAFTAR ISI
INTISARI JAWABAN
We assume the expatriate you refer to has a foreign exchange ("forex") account in Indonesia. In relation to foreign exchange transactions, these can be carried out using the facilities provided by the bank concerned while still observing the provisions of foreign exchange transactions.
So, what if the expatriate gives a power of attorney to the employee for the transaction?
Please read the review below for a further explanation.
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Transactions in Foreign Exchange Accounts in Indonesia
In Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (“KBBI”) a.k.a the official dictionary of the Indonesian language, an expatriate or ekspatriat in Bahasa Indonesia is a person who renounces his/her citizenship, a person who leaves his/her home country, a foreign citizen (Warga Negara Asing/ "WNA") who resides in a country, an exile, or foreign labor. So, to simplify the answer, we assume that the expatriate you are referring to is a foreigner who works in Indonesia as a foreign worker.
In addition, we also assume that the expatriate's personal account in question is a foreign exchange ("forex") account for foreigners in Indonesia. Furthermore, referring to Circular of OJK S-246/D.01/2015, mentions a number of requirements for opening a forex account for foreigners individually.
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Furthermore, related to payments to banks, because it is not mentioned where the bank is located, we assume that the bank is a commercial bank in Indonesia. Meanwhile, employees representing expatriates are assumed to be Indonesian Citizens (Warga Negara Indonesia/ “WNI”).
The transactions in the foreign exchange market include forex transactions against the rupiah and forex transactions against foreign exchange.[1] For example, forex transactions against the rupiah conducted between banks are carried out during the implementation window time of Bank Indonesia's open market operations, namely on weekdays at 08.00 West Indonesian Time (zone) - 16.00 West Indonesian Time (zone). Conversely, outside the timeframe, forex transactions against the rupiah conducted between banks in the forex market are prohibited.[2]
Furthermore, throughout our search on various bank websites in Indonesia, forex account holders are given several facilities to transact using internet banking and mobile banking including checking account mutations.
Therefore, we are of the opinion that if the expatriate has a forex account in Indonesia, then he/she can transact directly without the need to use a power of attorney or give a power of attorney to another person by observing the corridors of forex transactions including the minimum daily or monthly transaction limits as stipulated in Regulation of BI 24/7/PBI/2022, Regulation of BI Board of Governors 24/10/PADG/2022, as well as the provisions of the bank concerned.
For example, a certain amount (threshold) for cash transactions to buy foreign exchange against the rupiah is USD100,000.00 or its equivalent per month per transactor in the foreign exchange market.[3]
If they want to conduct foreign exchange transactions against the rupiah with a nominal value above a certain amount (threshold) per month, they are required to submit transaction underlying documents (activities underlying foreign exchange transactions against the rupiah)[4] and other supporting documents as referred to in Article 27 Regulation of BI Board of Governors 24/10/PADG/2022.
The Function of Power of Attorney
However, if the assumption we built above is not entirely correct, we will explain the function of a power of attorney in general. Article 1792 Civil Code states that a power of attorney is an agreement by which one person gives power to another person, who accepts it for and on his/her behalf to carry out an affair.
So, it can be concluded that a power of attorney is a document that authorizes another party to carry out legal actions, for and on behalf of the power of attorney, because the power of attorney is unable to do it himself/herself.
Answering your question, we are of the opinion that the granting of power of attorney is considered valid as long as the grantor (expatriate) gives written power of attorney to the beneficiary (employee) by emphasizing that for the purpose of payment to the bank, the beneficiary represents the grantor.
As for the large transaction value, we advise you to refer back to the relevant bank's provisions regarding transaction limits and other relevant laws and regulations (if the bank in question is abroad).
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These are the answers we can provide, we hope you will find them useful.