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rivate lender PermataBank will cut its lending interest rate in the next few weeks following Bank Indonesia'€™s (BI) recent move to slash its benchmark rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.25 percent last week.

The lender'€™s retail banking director Bianto Surodjo said that the cuts would probably be around the same basis points as BI as funding costs had also decreased.

'€œWe currently in the process of calculating the rate cut amount,'€ he said in South Jakarta on Thursday.

He added that several consumer banking products would see their rates cut as well as loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

According to its website, PermataBank'€™s interest rate for corporate loans now stands at 11.75 percent, while retail loans at 12.50 percent as of Dec. 31, 2015.

As economic pressures subsided, the central bank finally lowered its benchmark interest rate last week, the first rate cut since February 2015. At the same time, it also slashed both deposit and lending facilities by 25 bps, to 5.25 percent and 7.75 percent, respectively.

However, several banks have said that they remain in wait-and-see mode as liquidity in the banking system is expected to tighten following a government front-loading bond-issuance program and the low growth in third-party funds since last year.

Bianto said that the rate cut deliberations would also take into account the liquidity of PermataBank'€™s in addition to a BI rate cut.

PermataBank, the country'€™s seventh-largest bank by consolidated assets, saw its outstanding loans grow only 2 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 133 trillion as of September last year, mainly due to the contribution of automotive loans, SMEs as well as the local and middle market corporate segments. Its third-party funding expanded by 2 percent yoy to Rp 151 trillion, resulting in its loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) to remain stable at 88 percent.

However, the lender owned by British lender and diversified conglomerate Astra International, saw its net profits slump by 24 percent yoy to Rp 938 billion during the same period.

Meanwhile, Bianto said that the lender'€™s retail banking division would offer innovative banking solutions for individuals and families in a bid to boost its business growth.

'€œWe will strengthen our electronic channels and funding and transactional products,'€ he said.

PermataBank'€™s executive vice president and customer segmentation and marketing head Ivy Widjaja said that this year her firm would announce several cash back programs, fast-track non-collateral loans (KTA), expanded mobile banking services and special offers for Permata Hero credit card holders.

'€œWe want our customers to be smart shoppers through our programs,'€ she said.

Bianto said that the lender aimed to increase its number of credit card holders by 10 percent to 15 percent from the current 500,000, who booked up to Rp 2 trillion in outstanding loans last year. However, he refused to reveal any target for this year.

'€œWe also see a big potential in e-commerce with mushrooming number of smartphone users,'€ he said, adding that his firm would also have special offer for credit card holders who shop online.

Retail banking contributed around two-thirds of PermataBank'€™s total revenue, said Bianto. The amount was relatively large as the business covers individuals and SMEs.