Publicly listed lenders Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and PermataBank reaped hefty profits during the first six months of this year, thanks to double-digit growth in both net interest income and fee-based income.

State-owned BRI, the second-largest bank by assets, reported on Tuesday that its net profits jumped 16.3 percent to Rp 10 trillion (US$974.02 million) between January and June, the largest first-half profits among the country'€™s banks.

BRI finance director Achmad Baiquni said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the bank'€™s net profits rose 16.3 percent to Rp 10 trillion (US$974.02 million) year-on-year in the first half of the year.

With the result, BRI continued to post the biggest profits among all the other banks for the past seven years, he added.

Bank Mandiri and Bank Central Asia (BCA), the largest and third-largest banks by assets, reported net profits of Rp 8.3 trillion and Rp 6.32 trillion, respectively, in the first half.

Achmad said that the surge in BRI'€™s net profits was supported by higher net interest income and fee-based income. Net interest income was up 10 percent to Rp 26.02 trillion on the back of robust loan growth.

BRI'€™s total loans rose 28.5 percent to Rp 391.77 trillion as of the end of June. Micro loans, one of the bank'€™s major credit segments, recorded the highest growth, climbing 26.4 percent to Rp 122.08 trillion and accounting for 31.2 percent of the credit portfolio.

The growth was contributed by loan disbursement to the retail segment, which rose 37.3 percent, state-owned enterprises with 16.7 percent, corporate with 10.1 percent and medium-scale business with 4.7 percent.

Achmad said that its fee-based income grew positively as well, in line with higher electronic transactions. '€œThe number of our customers continues to grow, including in cities, and that provide us with a chance to develop our e-banking transactions,'€ he said.

Achmad said the bank expected profit growth to be a tad slower in the second half. '€œWith existing pressures on the interest rate, we are going to shift our credit portfolio from the corporate segment to micro. Micro is known to be resilient to rate changes,'€ he said.

However, despite slower growth, he said the bank was optimistic it would still be able to book a 10 to 15 percent increase in profits as targeted, citing a higher net interest margin in micro loans. With such a target, BRI is estimated to post more than Rp 20.37 trillion in net profits by year-end.

Separately, PermataBank, equally owned by automotive giant PT Astra International and London-based Standard Chartered bank, announced that higher net interest income and fee-based income led to the bank recording a 15 percent increase in net profits during the first half.

Its net interest income stood at Rp 2.57 trillion, 12 percent higher than last year, thanks to its thriving credit business. Permata'€™s loans surged 27 percent to Rp 106.9 trillion from January to June. '€œThe loans grew across most business segments, including strong growth in the SME [small and medium enterprises] business, mortgages and loans to local and middle market corporations,'€ the bank said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Permata'€™s fee-based income climbed 11 percent year-on-year to Rp 638 billion. Its third-party funds, including sharia funding, also increased, up 32 percent to Rp 116.1 trillion.

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