Bank Industri under BRI control

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia has been assigned caretaker manager of Bank Industri, a private bank controlled by Hashim S. Djoyohadikusumo.

Bank Industri's president, M. Djumeri, said that the assignment of BRI as caretaker had been approved during the bank's annual shareholders' meeting late last month.

"The involvement of BRI in Bank Industri's management has gained support from Bank Indonesia (the central bank)," he said in a statement on Monday.

While Djumeri did not say why BRI had been appointed caretaker, reliable sources say that Bank Industri, which in March last year announced a plan to merge with Bank Nusa, is in financial difficulties.

The tie-up with the state-owned bank changed the composition of the management of Bank Industri, with most of the positions in both executive and supervisory boards taken over by active executives of BRI.

The new executive board includes Djumeri as president, Putu Windu Hanaya as director for credit and Ey Sarwono Sudarto as director of the treasury and operations. The supervisory board includes Hashim as chief commissioner, and Oemarjoedi and Roes Haryanto as commissioners.

Sources say at least 30 small and medium-sized Indonesian banks are performing poorly and that the government has recommended that they merge with larger banks in order to avoid bankruptcy.

The government recently amended the tax laws to facilitate mergers between banks, abolishing the tax on the transfer of assets for the purpose of a merger. However, as yet the banks have not responded to the government's proddings.

Bank Dewa Rutji, also said to be facing financial difficulties, recently sold part of its shares to Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI), a publicly-listed commercial bank.

BDNI is reported to have injected Rp 75 billion (US$34 million) into Bank Dewa Rutji to support its operations.(hen)