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SOEs join hands in micro-loan cooperation
Three state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – financing firm PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM), lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) – signed on Tuesday an agreement sealing their cooperation in supporting PNM’s efforts to ease loan payment procedures for its customers in rural areas.
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Small business: A vegetable vendor waits for buyers at her stall in Ciputat Market in South Tangerang, Banten. (ANTARA FOTO/Teresia May)
T
hree state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – financing firm PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM), lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) – are teaming up in supporting PNM’s efforts to ease loan payment procedures for its customers in rural areas.
Under the cooperation, which was sealed in an agreement on Tuesday, BRI will encourage micro-enterprise owners to set up bank accounts, from which they can repay their loans through installment schemes. Telkom, meanwhile, will provide PNM customers with low-end smartphones, allowing them to access e-banking services. BRI will also train customers how to operate digital services.
BRI vice president director Sunarso said that through this agreement, the lender would secure an additional 80,000 customers from PNM.
“Our customers do not need to come to our offices [to pay the loans]. They can do the transaction anywhere, even from their bed. This will also cut down on our operational costs,” PNM president director Parman Nataatmadja said.
(Read also: Govt hopes to cut interest rate for KUR loans to 9 percent)
PNM offers services through its micro capital service unit (ULaMM), which gives Rp 25 million (US$1,876) to Rp 300 million in direct capital to micro-enterprises, and through the Prosperous Family Economic Development (Mekaar) program, which provides small loans to groups of women.
ULaMM has 73 branches with 664 service units and has served 302,829 customers in 4,093 districts all over Indonesia. (dra/hwa)
