State-owned lender Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) is confident the governmentâs public housing programs can help lift it from being the ninth to the seventh largest bank in the country within the next two years
tate-owned lender Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) is confident the government's public housing programs can help lift it from being the ninth to the seventh largest bank in the country within the next two years.
The publicly listed bank, which owns the largest mortgage portfolio, currently stands as Indonesia's ninth largest lender by assets, increasing from 10th position last year, according to a BTN executive.
BTN's financial report showed that its total assets reached Rp 144.57 trillion (US$11.12 billion) as of last year, increased by 10.22 percent from Rp 131.7 trillion in 2013.
'We are aiming for seventh position in 2017. We are confident about reaching the goal if we can maintain asset growth above that of the industry, just like we have achieved in the past three years,' BTN president director Maryono said on Tuesday.
Maryono said one of the bank's efforts to reach the goal was to participate in the government's program of developing one million houses. The program aims to reduce a backlog of 13.5 million houses for low-income families.
Of the 1 million houses, BTN plans to finance 460,000 subsidized housing units and 400,000 non-subsidized ones, while the remaining 140,000 houses for low-income people will be fully financed by the government, Maryono said.
As one of the priorities of Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration, the 1 million houses program is partly subsidized by the state budget, with total funds of Rp 80 trillion.
The government has confirmed that Rp 60 trillion is available, while it was also planning to invite global financiers, such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), to finance the remaining amount through soft loans. According to the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, each of the three global financiers plans to provide $500 million, which will be disbursed through BTN.
However, BTN treasury director Iman Nugroho Soeko said partnerships with global financiers were only one of several options that would be taken by the government as it was also considering seeking funds from other institutions.
As of last year, BTN posted Rp 106.5 trillion in third-party funds (DPK), increased by 10.67 percent from Rp 96.21 trillion a year earlier. The bank also booked Rp 116 trillion in loans, a 15.38 percent increase from Rp 100.46 trillion in 2013.
In Tuesday's general shareholders meeting, BTN paid Rp 223 billion in dividends.
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