Bank Bali wants Rp 170b net profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Bali has targeted a consolidated net profit of Rp 170 billion (US$70.8 million) this year, up 31 percent over last year.

Bank Bali's president, Rudy Ramli, said the company would realize the target by expanding business networks and by aggressively marketing programs such as the instant card, which has been successfully increasing the number of savings account holders.

"This year we'll open an office in Shanghai, China. Domestically, we'll open 100 new offices and about 150 ATMs," he said after attending the company's annual shareholders' meeting here yesterday.

As of May, the bank had 253 branches and 307 ATMs all over the country. It has a foreign representative office in Singapore.

Rudy said that in the first quarter this year, Bank Bali booked a net profit of Rp 34.5 billion.

During the annual meeting, Bank Bali's shareholders approved the management's plan to distribute a final dividend of Rp 125 pre share. Therefore total dividend payment for 1996 amounted to Rp 225.

The bank's consolidated net profit last year rose 37.3 percent to Rp 131 billion. Its total assets reached Rp 7.99 trillion last year, an increase of 26.4 percent over the previous year.

The shareholders also agreed to cut the nominal price of the bank's shares from Rp 1,000 to Rp 500 per share.

"We split the stocks to improve the liquidity of our shares on the capital market," he said. (bnt)