Japanese real estate company Shinoken Group Co. will sell an investment trust fund consisting of Indonesian government bonds and highly rated corporate bonds, initially worth 30 billion yen ($284 million), to individual investors in a development area of the Southeast Asian nation.

PT. Shinoken Asset Management Indonesia, Shinoken Group's local affiliate, received approval from Indonesia's Financial Services Authority for the composition of the fund on Sept. 24, the Tokyo-based company said.

The fund will be sold to residents in Jambi Province in central Sumatra, one of the areas to which the Indonesian government has encouraged residents of Java and other overpopulated areas to relocate under the Transmigrasi (transmigration) policy.

The fund is the first such scheme to be directed at transmigrants, according to Shinoken Group's statement. It said that financial services for them to date have been insufficient.

The province's population is about 3.62 million as of 2019, according to government data.

Bank Jambi in the province will be the agent and is expected to promote sales of the fund through such means as seminars on financial products, Shinoken Group said.

Investors in the fund do not have to have an account with Bank Jambi but an account will be opened for them at Bank Negara Indonesia after they purchase the fund, as the state-owned bank will be the fund's custodian bank, the company's spokesman said.

Shinoken Group sees potential to sell such funds in other parts of Indonesia as well in areas where many people do not have bank accounts, he said. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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