Operational Costs Major Indonesian Banks Rise in 2016
Even though Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) has been eager to encourage local banks to raise efficiency, banks' ratio of operating expenses to operating income (ROEOI) has in fact risen. For example, the ROEOI of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) rose 406 basis points from 68.04 percent in March 2015 to 72.10 percent in March 2016. BRI's Finance Director Haru Koesmahargyo said the bank's higher ROEOI is caused by the bank's rising non-performing loan (NPL) ratio. In Q1-2016 BRI's NPL ratio rose 20 basis points to 2.22 percent.
The higher NPL ratio is caused by the impact of Indonesia's slowing economic growth onto the business activities of Bank Rakyat Indonesia's clients, especially those clients active in the agribusiness and mining sectors. As a result of the higher NPL ratio, BRI's micro credit reserves have surged from IDR 15.39 trillion to IDR 18.51 trillion (approx. USD $1.4 billion).
Koesmahargyo added that - despite BRI's higher ROEOI - the bank's cost efficiency ratio improved from 45.08 percent to 42.88 percent mainly due to the bank's lower cost of fund (which fell to 3.98 percent in Q1-2016).
Meanwhile, Bank Central Asia (BCA) also saw its ROEOI rise, from 67.4 percent in March 2015 to 69.7 percent exactly one year later. Jahja Setiaatmadja, President Director of BCA, said this rise is caused by the bank's demand for funds to open new branches across Indonesia. In Q1-2016 BCA - the nation's largest privately-owned bank - opened 12 new offices, while it plans to open another 30 offices in the remainder of the year. The bank also plans to establish 500 new cash machines (ATM).