Bank Index Selindo in $24m Deal With Creador to Pursue Online Ambitions
Jakarta. Bank Index Selindo, a small bank focused on small and medium enterprise, raised Rp 290 billion ($24 million) in capital from selling a 20 percent stake in new shares to Creador Kapital, a local affiliate of Kuala Lumpur-based private equity Creador.
Bank Index president director Charlie Paulus said the capital injection would raise the bank’s core capital around Rp 900 billion, a step closer the next core capital level that will allow the Jakarta-based lender to expand its services, such as electronic banking and mobile banking.
“For us, it’s only a step closer to reaching Rp 1 trillion in core capital. I think we can get there by next year,” Charlie said Tuesday. “By getting to that level, we will be able to expand our electronic channel business. We have all the infrastructure ready.”
A Bank Indonesia regulation issued in 2012 requires lenders to have at least Rp 1 trillion in core capital to provide credit card and Internet banking services.
“It’s a crucial step in our growth because in the future, we are seeing that banks will go online,” Bank Index commissioner Joko Setiawan said.
Having started its operations in 1993, Bank Index now has 44 branches in the Greater Jakarta area, Bandung (West Java), Batam (Riau Islands) and Bali. The lender mainly serves small- and medium-sized enterprises.
It disbursed Rp 4.6 trillion in loans last year, up 16 percent from a year earlier, which beat the 12 percent growth in the country’s banking industry.
“We share the owner’s vision to get Bank Index to expand in the future,” said Cyril Noerhadi, a senior managing director at Creador. He said the company would see through a plan by the lender for an initial public offering in the next three years.
Creador has raised $460 million since its establishment in 2011 and invested it in consumer retail companies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
GlobeAsia
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