Private lender Citibank Indonesia reported a net profit of Rp 1.64 trillion (US$115.28 million) in the first half, up 97 percent from Rp 835.34 billion in the first six months of last year, thanks to higher interest income and better loan quality, although loan growth remained stagnant.

The bank’s net interest income rose 7.6 percent to Rp 2.25 trillion from Rp 2.09 trillion in the same period last year, driven by an increase in net interest margin to 5.9 percent in the first half from 5.87 percent in the same period last year, it announced Wednesday.

Citibank Indonesia CEO Batara Sianturi said net trading income doubled to around Rp 1 trillion from about Rp 500 billion year-on-year (yoy) and there was a decrease in coverage ratio for bad loans of Rp 119 billion in the first half that had bolstered growth due to improvements in loan quality.

Gross nonperforming loans (NPL) declined to 2.29 percent by June this year from 2.34 percent yoy.

But the bank’s lending growth had fallen flat with less than 1 percent growth to Rp 47.86 trillion from Rp 47.47 trillion in the same period last year. The figure is a far cry from the 8 percent target in 2019. 

“We have yet to [revise the target]. We are still observing our pipeline in the next six months [...] especially since our institutional banking sector is running well,” Batara said.