East Java government-owned lender Bank Jatim is aiming for 8.17 percent loan growth in 2017 by focusing on infrastructure and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in East Java, said Bank Jatim president director R. Soeroso on Monday.
ast Java government-owned lender Bank Jatim is aiming for 8.17 percent loan growth in 2017 by focusing on infrastructure and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in East Java, said Bank Jatim president director R. Soeroso on Monday.
The bank has disbursed loans to finance nine road and three port projects in East Java, he said, adding that infrastructure loans will have a multiplier effect on the SME sector, because it will open access to the remote area.
Soeroso said the bank would focus its business on East Java this year. “Last year, we focused on expansion outside East Java, but in 2017 we will focus on the province," Soeroso said at the press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
(Read also: Bank Jatim struggling to handle troubled loans)
In 2016, he said, loans had grown 4.45 percent to Rp 29.68 trillion (US$2.22 billion), as the bank had high non-performing loans (NPL) that soared to 4.77 percent, from 4.29 percent in 2015.
He also said the bank had set an 8 percent growth in third-party funds this year.
Bank Jatim’s director of agribusiness and sharia, Tony Sudjiaryanto, added that the third-party fund growth would be contributed by the branchless banking program Laku Pandai, which launched in November.
The program aims to attract 120,000 new customers in 2017. "We already signed a memorandum of understanding [MoU] with Nahdlatul Ulama [NU] for Laku Pandai, in East Java they have around 4.4 million members," Tony said. (bbn)
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