Fresh look: Bank J Trust Indonesia president director Ahmad Fajar (second left) chats with director Felix I
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Private lender J Trust Indonesia, formerly known as Bank Mutiara, is preparing to release more shares to the public within two years to comply with an existing bourse regulation.
J Trust Indonesia president director Ahmad Fajar said that the bank would gradually float its shares to meet the 7.5 percent 'free-float shares' requirement set by the Indonesia Stock Exchange
'The gradual increase of public ownership reflects our commitment to remain a publicly listed company,' he said on Tuesday after the bank's annual general shareholders' meeting.
J Trust Indonesia has never been delisted from the bourse and its shares are still listed under the 'BCIC' code, even though trading of the shares has been suspended since 2009, when the bank ' at the time named Bank Century ' was bailed out by the government.
The bourse's 7.5 percent free-float shares requirement was put in place in January 2014 and all publicly listed firms are given two years until 2016 to adjust to it.
'However, we have asked to be given two years from the time the bank was acquired by J Trust to adjust to the requirement,' Fajar added.
The bank was acquired by Japanese holding company J Trust Co. Ltd. in November 2014, following a lengthy auction that was conducted by the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS).
It means that J Trust Indonesia has until November 2016 to fulfill the requirement and increase its public stake from the current 0.003 percent. J Trust Co. itself had 99.0697 percent of the shares in the bank as of May, while the LPS held 0.9273 percent shares.
However, shareholders during the meeting approved a divestment of 1 percent of J Trust Co.'s stake to PT J Trust Investment Indonesia, the bank's sister company, reducing the former's ownership to 98.0697 percent.
Meanwhile, Fajar said that J Trust Indonesia was still optimistic about its business growth projections this year, amid a cooling economy. The bank aims at booking 17 percent growth in credit, bringing the overall figure to Rp 9.18 trillion (US$689.23 million) by year-end.
Small and medium enterprises (SME), according to Fajar, will remain its preferred business segment, as it hopes to see SMEs to account for 20 percent of its total lending in several years.
'The rest will be made up by consumer and commercial segments,' Fajar said.
JTrust Indonesia also looks to increase its core capital and jack up its status within the next few years, as parent company J Trust Co. is already committed to inject fresh funds every year, according to Fajar.
The bank, as revealed by its March financial statement, had Rp 1.29 trillion in core capital, making it a BUKU II lender, whose core capital reaches Rp 1 trillion to Rp 5 trillion.
Ever since the takeover in 2014, J Trust Co. had injected Rp 600 billion worth of additional capital into JTrust Indonesia.
'There will be additional capital injection again, but we are still discussing that,' Fajar added.
He confirmed that J Trust Co. was ready to contribute around Rp 1 trillion to Rp 2 trillion to diversify the bank's funding options, either in time deposits, medium-term notes or negotiable certificates of deposit (NCD).
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