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ankers have asked the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to ease the risk-weighted assets (RWA) requirement to enable them to boost their financing for the development of infrastructure, maritime and agriculture sectors, the main economic agenda of the government.

They say that the lower RWA will provide as an incentive to attract lenders to participate more in the three sectors that are deemed important to the economy.

UOB Indonesia president director Armand B. Arief said recently the reduction in the RWA will encourage banks to increase their participation in the government'€™s infrastructure, maritime and agricultural development programs.

Each bank has a different risk exposure toward these sectors, but it will be beneficial for banks if there is some kind of an incentive for that,'€ he said after attending a meeting with the OJK recently.

The RWA calculation is used to measure a bank'€™s assets compared to its credit risk, and thus determines the amount of capital needed by the bank. At the moment, the calculation differs from one credit segment to another, as stipulated by a Bank Indonesia (BI) regulation that was issued in 2011.

For example, the RWA percentage is set between 35 and 45 percent for home loans, 100 percent for commercial property loans, 50 percent for pensioner loans and 75 percent for micro, small and medium enterprise loans.

The RWA for corporate loans, on the other hand, is calculated differently, using a rating mechanism.

OJK chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said during an annual gathering recently that the financial regulator expected the banking industry to step up their participation in the financing of the development of infrastructure, maritime and agriculture sectors, the main focus of the current government'€™s economic agenda.

No data are available on how many loans have been channeled into infrastructure and agriculture sectors, because in the banking statistics, such loans are included in several segments, such as electricity, construction and forestry.

According to banking statistics, loans channeled into the fisheries sector was a miniscule 0.2 percent '€” representing Rp 7.46 trillion (US$596.8 million) '€” of total loans by the end of November 2014.

Meanwhile, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) finance director Achmad Baiquni acknowledged that the banking industry had formally asked the regulator for a lower RWA calculation, depending on each economic sector.

'€œIn my opinion, easier requirements will surely attract participation from banks because the existing requirements have different calculations for state firms and non-state firms,'€ he said.

BRI already has large exposure to maritime and agriculture sectors, as shown by its financial data. However, they are mostly channeled in the form of micro loans, meaning that its RWA measurement stands at 75 percent.

However, one banker, who declined to be named, said that no detailed talks on the RWA emerged during the Tuesday meeting. '€œBut if the OJK says you'€™ve got to do it, you'€™ve got to do it, right?'€ he said.

He insisted that an important way to attract the banks was to introduce a more '€œattractive'€ RWA, but it would depend on the OJK to formulate a new calculation.

Separately, Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) finance director Thilagavathy Nadason said that the bank'€™s exposure to maritime, infrastructure and agriculture was still small, citing the great need for capital to penetrate the sectors.