Three candidates listed to replace Agus as president
Nani Afrida and Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/21/2010 12:43 PM
The government has come up with three candidates to replace Agus Martowardojo as the president director of state-owned Bank Mandiri as he takes on his new role as Indonesia's finance minister.
"We have three candidates for the new Mandiri president director. Two candidates are from Mandiri's internal management and one candidate is from a private bank," State-Owned Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
A source familiar with the matter said the three candidates included Mandiri technology and operation director Zulkifli Zaini and vice president director Riswinandi, while the external candidate was likely to be Arwin Rasyid, CIMB Niaga's president director.
However, Mustafa refused to confirm any names.
"All I can say is that one of the candidates is an international senior banker who lives in Singapore," Mustafa said.
He added the government, as the biggest shareholder in the publicly listed bank, had conducted fit-and-proper tests on the two candidates.
"We will conduct the same test for the other candidate tomorrow," Mustafa said. He added the result from the last tests had already been submitted to the Vice President and the government would make its choice before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono flies to Norway on May 26 to attend a forum on climate change.
The government's choice, he said, would be proposed to a shareholders meeting scheduled no later than the end of June.
Despite losing its president director, Mandiri, Indonesia's largest bank by assets, remains optimistic it will achieve its long-term target this year, the bank said in a statement.
"Bank Mandiri is preparing to be the top five in ASEAN in 2014 and the top three in 2020," said deputy president director Riswinandi.
The bank praised Agus' leadership for successfully handling the merger of four ailing banks; Bank Bumi Daya, Bank Exim, Bank Pembangunan Indonesia and Bank Dagang Negara. The price of Mandiri shares fell Rp 50 to Rp 5,200 by the end of the trading on Thursday.
