BCA may raise lending to Rp 9t this year<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Bank Central Asia (BCA), the country's third largest bank in
\nterms of assets, said on Thursday it would channel up to Rp 9
\ntrillion (US$1.07 billion) in lending this year, up from about Rp
\n7.5 trillion in 2003.<\/p>\n
BCA vice president director Aswin Wirjadi said the bank was
\noptimistic the lending expansion would not be interrupted by the
\n2004 legislative elections, because the real sector still needed
\nfresh funds to run and expand their businesses.<\/p>\n
He also said the bank would channel its lending equally to the
\ncorporate, retail and consumer sectors.<\/p>\n
BCA is aggressively working to boost its revenue by expanding
\nits lending in order to help compensate for a revenue decline
\nfrom its interest proceeds from recapitalization bonds.<\/p>\n
The central bank has been aggressively cutting its benchmark
\nrate to a current level of 8.24 percent, far below the 13 percent
\nat the end of 2002.<\/p>\n
The decline has had a heavy impact on BCA because its recap
\nbonds mostly consist of variable net bonds carrying floating
\nrates linked to the central bank's interest rate. When the
\ncentral bank's interest rate declines, BCA's revenue from recap
\nbonds also declines.<\/p>\n
About 95 percent of BCA's total recap bonds, currently worth
\nabout Rp 37 trillion, carry a floating rate, which makes them
\nextremely sensitive to fluctuations in the benchmark rate.<\/p>\n
Because of this, Aswin said, BCA plans to unload about Rp 10
\ntrillion of its recap bonds this year.<\/p>\n
BCA's consumer banking general manager, Stephen Liestyo, said
\nBCA was targeting 100,000 new customers for its mobile banking
\nservice and 400,000 transactions valued at Rp 500 billion
\n(US$58.82 million) per month in 2004.<\/p>\n
\"Our target is to double last year's transaction value,\"
\nStephen said.<\/p>\n
Thus far, there are about 65,000 regular users of the BCA
\nmobile banking service.<\/p>\n
BCA and cellular operator Excelcom, or ProXL, started the
\nmobile banking service three years ago using a special SIM-card
\ncontaining a program that enables users to perform various
\nbanking transactions, such as transferring funds, paying bills
\nand checking balances.<\/p>\n
In the past, customers had to register with a Pro-XL office in
\norder to use this service. However, customers no longer need to
\ndo this since BCA and Pro-XL launched a new service called Life
\nIn Hand, which, among other things, allows customers to register
\nfor mobile banking through their cellular phones.<\/p>\n
The transaction charges for the new service have also been cut
\nby 50 percent to between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 per transaction.<\/p>\n
BCA also works with Satelindo to provide mobile banking and in
\nthree months will launch a similar service with Telkomsel.<\/p>",
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