Mandiri Expects Sharp Drop in Bad Loans in 2017: CEO
Jakarta. Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's biggest bank by assets, is stepping up restructuring and asset sales to tackle bad loans and sharply cut its provisions this year, its chief executive told Reuters.
Analysts have been concerned about Mandiri's bad loans ratio, which has crept up over the past few years mainly due to its exposure to the mining sector.
At the end of 2016, Mandiri's provisions were at Rp 24.6 trillion ($1.9 billion), more than doubling from Rp 12 trillion a year earlier, while gross non-performing loans (NPLs) made up 4.0 percent of total loans.
CEO Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said the bank aims to cut provisions for bad loans to between Rp 16 trillion and Rp 18 trillion this year, while it expects NPLs to fall to 3 percent of loans, partly by strengthening its risk management and debt collection.
"We hope with all the strategy, the trend of our NPL will go down this year," Kartika told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday (12/04).
The state-controlled bank saw inflows of almost Rp 30 trillion ($2.3 billion) from Indonesia's tax amnesty scheme, Kartika said, adding that some of the funds were being converted into assets such as bonds.
Indonesia's nine-month tax amnesty program, which ended on March 31, had netted Rp 135 trillion for the government, according to the latest official calculations.
Mandiri is upbeat about the long-term demand for crude palm oil (CPO), which is used in everything from soaps to chocolates, and plans to expand its lending to small-scale farmers in the sector, Kartika said.
The European Parliament recently called for a curb in the use of the commodity, but Kartika said Mandiri's corporate clients are increasingly diversifying their export markets to India and Africa.
"Palm is a product that can serve a huge range of retail, consumer businesses," Kartika said.
"In the long run CPO will remain a good commodity."
Reuters
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