BNI Prepares Rp 4 T for Subsidiaries' Expansion
Jakarta. Bank Negara Indonesia, the country's fourth-biggest lender by assets, has reportedly set aside Rp 4 trillion, or $300 million, to expand the businesses of its subsidiaries this year.
"We've set aside Rp 4 trillion through equities and loans for our subsidiaries in 2017," Rico Rizal Budidarmo, finance director at BNI, told reporters early this week.
BNI subsidiaries include its sharia-based lender BNI Syariah, BNI Asset Management, BNI Multifinance, insurance firm BNI Life and BNI Securities.
Rico said the lender will allocate about Rp 1.5 trillion to Rp 2 trillion for capital injection to most of its subsidiaries.
He was short on details but said the bank is mulling over plans to either issue subordinate loans or to raise money from an initial public offering for BNI Syariah.
Rico said BNI will also revamp its digital banking service this year by first acquiring financial technology startup companies.
"This will help us improve our online infrastructure and consumer products and back our plan toward digitization," Rico said.
According to Rico, the expansion will boost the bank's consolidated fee-based income.
BNI had just reported its 2016 financial performance on Thursday (26/01). Its profit soared 25.1 percent to Rp 11.3 trillion last year as its fee-based income increased by 23.1 percent to Rp 8.6 trillion and its net interest income increased by 17.4 percent to Rp 30 trillion.
Meanwhile, Panji Irawan, the treasury and international director at BNI, said the bank also has a plan to raise funding up to Rp 10 trillion from rupiah-denominated bonds and bilateral loans in the second quarter of this year.
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