TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
BRI set for stock split, revamps board
Handayani (Antara)State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) revamped its executive positions on Wednesday and announced a stock-split, as the firm aimed to please its stakeholders with strong gains and business performance
Change Size
Handayani (Antara)
State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) revamped its executive positions on Wednesday and announced a stock-split, as the firm aimed to please its stakeholders with strong gains and business performance.
Former BRI independent commissioner Adhyaksa Dault, a politician who helms the Indonesian Scout Movement (Pramuka), was dismissed from his position and replaced by former business journalist cum economist Rofikoh Rokhim who is also the commissioner of PT Hotel Indonesia Natour.
Moreover, Sunarso and Randi Anto were also terminated from their positions as vice president director and consumer banking director, respectively. The position of vice president director was later removed from the board.
Shareholders had previously agreed to appoint Handayani, a former consumer banking director of Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) to take over Randi Anto’s position. Sophia Alizsa has become BRI’s human capital director. Prior to this appointment, Sophia worked as BRI head of retail business network before moving to Jamkrindo.
“The [State-Owned Enterprises] Ministry has been informed of the details regarding the dismissal [of the top executives] and their new assignments to other institutions,” BRI president director Suprajarto told a press conference on Wednesday, declining to provide more details.
On the same day, BRI also announced that it had received approval from shareholders to conduct a stock split with a nominal price of Rp 50 (less than 1 US cent) per share, and a five-for-one ratio, which means that the stockholder will get five shares for every share held previously.
The country’s most profitable lender took the same measure in 2011 to make its shares more affordable for retail investors. “We’ve launched the stock split because the current BRI shares are too expensive. We want to make them more affordable to increase retail transactions,” BRI institutional director Sis Apik Wijayanto said.
The stock split, which will become effective in November, will reduce BRI’s share price to around Rp 3,000 per share from approximately Rp 15,000 at present. At the closing session at 4 p.m. in Jakarta, BRI’s shares regained their opening position at Rp 15,400 apiece, after suffering a 0.49 percent decline in the first trading session on Wednesday.
Although the company has yet to release its third quarter results, the management is optimistic that the lender’s loan and net profit growth will improve this year. It has maintained its projection of 5 to 7 percent growth in net profits toward year-end, while projecting its loan growth to hover at between 12 and 14 percent.
“We will conduct a public expose next week,” Suprajarto said, declining to elaborate more on BRI’s achievement as of September this year.
BRI saw its loans grow by 11.8 percent year on year (yoy) to Rp 687.9 trillion in the first six months of 2017, higher than the banking industry’s average loan growth of 7.6 percent as of June. From January to June this year, BRI saw its net profits grow by 10.4 percent yoy to Rp 13.4 trillion.
The lender is still concentrating on channeling the majority of its loans to the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) segment, making it the country’s biggest MSME lender. After sending a satellite into orbit and becoming the first bank in the world to operate a satellite, the lender is now in the process of acquiring PT Bahana Artha Ventura to accelerate technology development in the bank.
“We will complete the process at the latest next month, so we can activate [the company] as BRI’s venture capital,” said Suprajarto.
Responding to the result of BRI’s extraordinary shareholders meeting, Binaartha Sekuritas analyst Nafan Aji said the changes in the board of directors, as well as board of commissioners, should act as a positive catalyst on the company’s performance.
He viewed BRI’s business prospects positively, supported by the firm’s ability to mitigate risks effectively. He projected that BRI’s net profits could increase by 7.6 percent to Rp 28.2 trillion this year.
