Preferential treatment in bank merger?<\/p>\n
There are two reasons why Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia (Bank
\nExim) can be regarded as privileged. First, despite its financial
\ndifficulties, the bank has been granted additional capital to the
\ntune of Rp 20 trillion in Bank Indonesia liquidity support.
\nSecond, Bank Exim is being lined up to become the parent bank in
\nthe planned merger of four state banks -- BBD, Bapindo, BDN and
\nBank Exim. The new bank will be known as Bank Mandiri.<\/p>\n
This has caused envy and attracted criticism that the
\ngovernment is treating other banks unfairly. Fortunately, the
\ngovernment has announced that the decision is not final and that
\nit is still considering the matter.<\/p>\n
The government needs to carefully reconsider which of the
\nailing banks it is going to allow to survive and eventually
\nacquire other private banks. If inefficient banks are selected,
\nthe public's trust in the banks born of mergers will naturally
\nalso be deficient.<\/p>\n
Bank Exim, for example, which is currently under the care of
\nthe Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), will need a
\nrelatively long time to win back trust, especially abroad.
\nAnother point the government needs to consider in case it should
\ndecide to press ahead with its plans as they currently stand
\nconcerns the matter of overseas representative offices, for
\nexample in the United States. Bank Exim's U.S. office has been
\nclosed, which will make it rather complicated for Bank Mandiri to
\nopen an office in that country, especially since the U.S. central
\nbank closed the door to Indonesian banks in 1991.<\/p>\n
The merger of four banks with differing customs and histories
\nis not an easy task to accomplish. A wrong step could have
\ndisastrous consequences.<\/p>\n
-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/preferential-treatment-in-bank-merger-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }