Malayan Banking, Malaysia’s biggest bank, has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Temasek’s stake in Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) in a deal worth about $800m.

An executive from one of the competing bidders, who preferred not to be named, said Maybank would probably end up as the buyer. He said the bank was prepared to pay a high price for entry into the Indonesian market in order to compete with its Malaysian rival Bumiputra-Commerce, which owns 65 per cent of Bank Niaga.