Private lender OCBC NISP has decided not to pay dividends to shareholders in a bid to maintain consistent growth this year.

The publicly listed company aimed to continue its double digit profits and maintain its loan growth at between 10 to 15 percent in 2019, OCBC president director Parwati Surjaudaja said on Tuesday.

“We have not paid dividends for the past 15 years. […] We decided not to pay dividends to ensure sustainable growth,” she said after the annual general shareholders meeting in Jakarta.

The lender, listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) with the ticker symbol “NISP”, booked Rp 2.6 trillion (US$183.81 million) in net profit in 2018, a 21 percent increase from its profit the previous year.

Last year, the company disbursed Rp 117.8 trillion, up 11 percent from the previous year. The lender channeled roughly 47 percent of its loans to its customers’ working capital, with 41 percent disbursed as investment loans and the remaining 12 percent as consumer loans.

Parwati said this year OCBC would focus on channeling loans to the same segments. However, she estimated that the growth of loan disbursement to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be higher this year than loans to the corporate sector.

“Generally, the financial performance of some banks in the industry has slowed in the first quarter of this year. However, we are optimistic that after the presidential election, banks will be able to catch up to their targets,” she said. (bbn) 

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