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ublicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA), the country'€™s top private lender, saw nearly double-digit net profit growth last year amid signs of improvement in the economy.

The bank reported Thursday that its consolidated net profit grew by around 9.3 percent to Rp 18 trillion (US$1.36 billion) last year, from Rp 16.4 trillion a year earlier.

As the bank was impacted by the country'€™s sluggish economy, its net profit growth booked last year was lower than the 15.7 percent increase between 2013 and 2014.

The bank'€™s lower profit growth last year was caused by a relatively flat year-on-year (yoy) increase in loans at 11.9 percent to Rp 387.6 trillion, only a slight rise compared to 11 percent booked in 2014.

BCA president director Jahja Setiaatmadja said the bank'€™s loan growth last year was mainly boosted by corporate as well as commercial and small and medium enterprise (SME) lending, which grew 17.2 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

'€œThe growth in corporate, commercial and SME loans was aided by improvement in the economy and increase in the consumption cycle approaching the end of 2015,'€ he said in a press conference.

As a slow economy impacts the banking industry, BCA also saw a 56.5 percent yoy increase in loan-loss provision while its coverage ratio rose to 322 percent.

However, it maintained its gross non-performing loan (NPL) at 0.7 percent last year, relatively flat compared to 0.6 percent booked in 2014.

Jahja said the bank also posted third-party funds growth at 5.8 percent to Rp 473.7 trillion last year, of which a 76.1 percent share was contributed by current accounts and saving accounts (CASA).

He said the bank would maintain its loan growth target of 10 percent but would be open to revision in the first half if the economy improved and there was ample liquidity in the market.

'€œWe are still waiting for better loan demand, but we are ready to increase our credit as we will obtain around Rp 4 trillion in extra liquidity on account of Bank Indonesia'€™s easing of the primary reserve requirement [GWM],'€ he said.

Meanwhile, publicly listed Bank Danamon also reported on Thursday that its net profit stood at Rp 2.4 trillion last year, according to its press statement.

The bank'€™s net profit last year decreased by 8 percent from Rp 2.6 trillion booked in 2014 as it saw zero percent growth in net interest income, which stood at Rp 13.6 trillion last year, relatively unchanged from a year earlier.

Affected by the country'€™s weak economy, Danamon saw its loan decrease by 7 percent to Rp 139 trillion last year, from Rp 129.3 trillion in 2014, with gross NPL increased to 3 percent, from 2.3 percent a year earlier.

'€œThe bank is constantly aiming at improving its asset quality through prudent enforcement of risk assessment procedures, disciplined collection and recovery of debts,'€ Danamon finance director Vera Eve Lim said in the statement.

The bank'€™s third-party funds grew only 4 percent yoy to Rp 145.7 trillion last year, with its CASA portion decreasing by 15 percent due to a 12 percent increase in time deposit contributions.