Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.

Today's Headlines Banking

  • Bank Negara Indonesia Reports 20.1% Net Profit Growth in FY-2017

    One of Indonesia's largest banks, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), reported a 20.1 percent year-on-year (y/y) increase to IDR 13.62 trillion (approx. USD $1.0 billion) in consolidated net profit in full-year 2017. This strong growth pace came on the back of a 12.2 percent (y/y) increase in credit growth to IDR 441.3 trillion (approx. USD $32.9 billion).

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  • Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Targets Double-Digit Growth in 2018

    Indonesian financial institution Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) targets to see double-digit profit growth in 2018 supported by rising credit growth. Suprajarto, President Director of BRI, said rising revenue and the implementation of efficiency measures will boost the bank's performance in 2018. Moreover, Indonesia's banking sector is currently "hot", reflected by surging shares of the big listed Indonesian banks on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.

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  • Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi Delays IPO as New Investor Arrived

    Indonesian financial institution Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi delayed its initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange because it welcomed a new investor. Earlier Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi planned to conduct its IPO at the start of 2018. It still targets to become a publicly listed company this year but in the second half of 2018, the earliest.

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  • OJK Urges Indonesia's Sharia Banks to Become More Selective

    Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (in Indonesian: Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, or OJK), the government agency that regulates and supervises Indonesia's financial services sector, urges the nation's sharia banks to become more selective in terms of disbursing credit in order to strengthen the quality of loans in Indonesia's Islamic finance industry.

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  • Credit Growth, Profit & NPL Ratio of Indonesian Banks Improve in Q3

    Several big state-controlled banks in Indonesia posted double-digit profit growth in the third quarter of 2017, extending the positive corporate performance that was posted by these banks in the preceding quarters. This performance comes on the back of sliding reserves in line with rising credit growth, an improvement in the quality of banks' loans and lower non-performing loan (NPL) ratios.

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  • Bank Rakyat Indonesia Sees Good Growth at East Timor Branch

    Haru Koesmahargyo, Finance Director of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), said the company's new branch office in East Timor (Timor Leste), which was opened several months ago, already managed to open about 20,000 new accounts for local clients. Considering the limited time-span and the limited local population in the region, these results are very positive. Also in terms of transactions the East Timor branch shows good growth.

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  • Bank Rakyat Indonesia to Speed Up Migration to BRIsat

    Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of Indonesia's largest financial institutions, will accelerate the migration of its ATM network and operating units to BRIsat, the company's satellite that was launched on 20 June 2016. Indra Utoyo, Director of Digital Banking and Technology at BRI, said many - but not all - of the bank's ATMs and operating units have already been migrated to BRIsat.

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  • Do Indonesians Now Really Prefer to Save Rather than Consume?

    Indonesia's purchasing power may not be as weak as initially assumed in the first half of 2017. It could be that consumers and businesses now actually prefer to save their funds on banks than to spend and invest. Based on data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) third-party funds in Indonesia's banking sector (saving and deposit accounts) expanded 11.2 percent year-on-year (y/y) to IDR 5,012.5 trillion (approx. USD $3,775.4 billion) in May 2017.

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Latest Columns Banking

  • Financial Update: Bank Indonesia Sees No Need to Alter Interest Rates

    At Bank Indonesia’s Board of Governors’ meeting, convened today (10/07), it was decided to keep the country’s benchmark interest rate (BI rate) at 7.50 percent, and the Lending Facility and Deposit Facility rates held at 7.50 percent and 5.75 percent, respectively. According to the central bank this policy is consistent with efforts to steer inflation back towards the target corridor of 4.5±1 percent in 2014 and 4.0±1 percent in 2015, as well as to reduce the current account deficit to a more sustainable level.

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  • What are the Best Performing Indonesian Stocks so Far in 2014?

    Regarding stock trading on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, investors who focused on property, banking and infrastructure stocks have made the highest profit so far in 2014. Although all sectoral indices that are contained within the benchmark stock index of Indonesia, known as the Jakarta Composite Index (abbreviated IHSG) have shown a good performance, the three aforementioned sectoral indices stand out as the country's top performers. Indonesia's IHSG has risen 16.14 percent between 1 January and 26 May 2014.

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  • Manufacturing in Indonesia (HSBC PMI) Accelerates in April 2014

    Indonesia’s HSBC Markit Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) showed a reading of 51.1 in April 2014, significantly up from 50.1 in the previous month, meaning that manufacturing activity in Indonesia has grown (a reading above 50.0 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50.0 indicates contraction). In fact, amid improved economic conditions as well as strong demand, manufacturing activity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy expanded at the fastest pace in 11 months.

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  • Banking Sector of Indonesia Shining Brightly but Some Difficulties Ahead

    The banking sector remains a key sector for growth of Indonesia's financial industry as well as the country's general economic expansion as the sector posted the highest profits worldwide. Prasetiantoko Augustine, economist at Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), said that profitability in Indonesia's banking sector is not only highest in the ASEAN and Southeast Asian region but also worldwide. Bank Rakyat Indonesia posted the highest profit of Indonesian banks in 2013 (IDR 21 trillion), followed by Bank Mandiri (IDR 18 trillion) and BCA (IDR 14 trillion).

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  • Profit of Indonesian Banks Expected to Grow Double-Digit Again in 2014

    Moody's Investors Service, one of the big three global credit rating firms, predicts that profit in Indonesia's banking sector remains stable due to strong financial fundamentals. In its report "Indonesia Banking System Outlook", which discusses Indonesian banks' creditworthiness over the next 12 to 18 months, Moody's assesses that - despite an economic slowdown having reduced GDP growth to 5.78 percent in 2013 and puts some pressure on asset quality - high profitability and strong capital levels will continue into 2014.

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  • Regulation and Supervision on Banking Sector Transferred to the OJK

    Today (31/12), the central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) officially transfers its authority to regulate and supervise the banking sector to the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, abbreviated OJK). Muliaman D. Hadad, Chairman of the Board of the OJK, said that all functions, duties as well as powers of regulation and banking supervision, licensing, inspection, investigation and consumer protection have been transferred to the 35 (regional) offices of the OJK.

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  • Unable to Continue Rebound; Indonesia's Stock Index Falls 0.73%

    Indonesia's benchmark stock index (IHSG) was not able to continue its rebound. On Friday (15/11), the IHSG fell 0.73 percent to 4,335.45 points amid widespread profit taking. Foreign investors recorded net selling of IDR 193 billion (USD $16.9 million) on today's trading day. Moreover, investors are concerned about the impact of the higher interest rate of the central bank (7.50 percent), particularly on the property and banking sectors in the fourth quarter of 2013.

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  • Agreement Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Financial Services Authority

    Today (18/10), the Governor of Bank Indonesia and the Chairman of the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) signed an agreement concerning “cooperation and coordination to support task implementation at Bank Indonesia and OJK”. The agreement forms a basis for expediting and optimising coordination between both organisations in terms of their function, task and authority in light of the upcoming transfer of the banking regulation and supervision function from Bank Indonesia to OJK on 31 December 2013.

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  • Bank Indonesia Amends LTV/FTV Ratio to Safeguard Financial Stability

    Bank Indonesia amended its regulation concerning the Loan To Value (LTV) and Financing To Value (FTV) ratio for property credit and property-backed consumer loans. The LTV/FTV ratio is the ratio between the value of credit/financing that can be allocated by a bank and the corresponding value of collateral in the form of property when the loan is allocated. Property is real property that includes houses, vertical housing (apartments, flats, condominiums and penthouses), home offices and home stores.

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  • Bank Indonesia Plans New Rule to Avert Possible Property Bubble

    In order to avert a potential bubble in Indonesia's property sector, Bank Indonesia (the central bank of Indonesia) is planning to further tighten its monetary policy in the sector. After having raised the minimum down payment requirement on housing loans to 30 percent for first home ownership (thus a loan-to-value ratio of 70 percent) in June 2012, Bank Indonesia now intends to prohibit credits for the purchase of a second, third (or more) house that has not been built yet (still in the preconstruction phase). This new rule is expected to be introduced this month.

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