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ajor lenders Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Mandiri expect to book a sharp increase in their personal loans this year to compensate the expected slowdown in the corporate lending segment.

BNI consumer banking director Anggoro Eko Cahyo said the state lender projected a 55 percent annual increase in its personal lending segment, which is also known as payroll-based loans.

'€œWe hope to capitalize on our corporate banking clients, especially big firms as they have large workforce. We are looking to handle their payrolls and that will open up way for our personal loans,'€ he said recently.

 Last year, BNI had Rp 1.26 trillion (US$97.47 million) in its personal lending portfolio and it jacked up the figure to Rp 1.35 trillion by the end of March.

The 55 percent growth target, which will be higher than the 41.9 percent growth achieved in 2014, is expected to boost the portfolio to reach at least Rp 1.96 trillion in 2015.

Anggoro said that despite the current small contribution to the overall lending, personal loan segment held a considerable business potential due to its relatively higher average ticket size.

'€œOur personal loans can go up to Rp 100 million per person, higher than the average Rp 10 million booked in our credit card segment,'€ he said, adding that it would stick to payroll clients for the personal loan business to ensure credit quality.

In overall consumer business segment, Anggoro said that BNI was upbeat about posting 15 percent to 17 percent rise this year, sending the outstanding amount to between Rp 59.83 trillion and Rp 60.87 trillion.

Besides on payroll-based loan, BNI relies on mortgage as well for positive consumer business growth in 2015.

Its mortgage '€” which makes up for the largest part of the consumer loan '€” is expected to grow at the same pace, with 15 percent to 17 percent. Part of that growth will hopefully be generated from a planned policy ease that being prepared by financial regulators.

'€œIf the regulators decide to reduce the down payment requirement for home loans, I think we will see a revival in mortgage market,'€ he said.

Indonesia'€™s major banks have estimated there would be a decline in the growth of the corporate loans as many companies cut down their budget to cope with the country'€™s economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, Mandiri, another state lender, is also optimistic about its personal loan business in 2015. It estimates that personal loan will record a 30 percent to 35 percent increase to revolve between Rp 15.86 trillion and Rp 16.47 trillion.

Similar to BNI, Mandiri consumer banking director Hery Gunardi said that it seeks to benefit from its own corporate clients as they provided entry into deeper personal loan market.

'€œWe mainly offer the personal loans to people whose companies already partner with us for payroll. That way, we'€™ll have a complete database and reduces risks too,'€ he said.

According to data from Mandiri, personal loans accounted to 18.6 percent '€” equal to Rp 12.1 trillion '€” of the total consumer loans during the January to March period. Compared to a year ago, the segment reported a 21.6 percent rise.

'€œIt remains one of our most preferred consumer loan segment, besides credit card, automotive loan and mortgage,'€ Hery added.

He said that Mandiri hoped to see its consumer banking business climb at least to Rp 81.47 trillion by year-end, 30 percent higher from 2014.

To reach the overall target, it sets a 40 percent annual growth in its automotive loans, 13 percent to 15 percent annual growth in credit card and 14 to 15 percent annual growth in mortgage.

'€œHopefully consumer loan will rebound in the second half after it reported lackluster result last year,'€ Hery said.