Bank Mandiri helps small exporters
CIPANAS, West Java (JP): State-owned Bank Mandiri has channeled some Rp 600 billion (US$71 million) in export financing over the past two months since the bank joined a loan syndication program to help export oriented firms.
Bank Mandiri vice president for commercial banking A. Kaduhu Sasrayuda said that the Rp 600 billion went entirely to small and midsize businesses seeking export financing.
"We estimate that by the end of this year we will have channeled a total of Rp 1.2 trillion to Rp 1.3 trillion," Kaduhu told reporters following a banking training course on Friday.
He said the bank started channeling the credits two months ago in cooperation with the government.
According to him, the export financing was mainly aimed at small to midsize businesses, whose credits range between Rp 100 million to Rp 350 million.
He said the bank received marketing help from the ministry of industry and trade.
The ministry, he said, owned a program which provided small and medium firms with help in basic business practices such as writing business proposals or financial statements.
The ministry would then recommend several firms to apply for export credits at Bank Mandiri, Kaduhu explained.
In May the Ministry of Industry and Trade formed a consortium of two state banks and several foreign banks to help finance export oriented firms and small businesses.
It did not mention the names of the foreign banks that had joined the loan syndication, citing only Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) as the other state bank aside from Mandiri.
Loans
Meanwhile Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) announced that loans from nine banks currently under the supervision of the agency have reached Rp 6.34 trillion (US$755 million) in the first six months of this year, an increase of 18.1 percent from the same period last year.
IBRA's deputy for bank restructuring Jerry Ng said that the nine banks were Bank Bukopin, Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Universal, Bank Danamon, Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), Bank Lippo, Bank Artamedia, Bank Prima Express and Bank Patriot.
He said that of the Rp 6.3 trillion, some Rp 2.3 trillion (37 percent) was channeled through various credit programs, Rp 2.2 trillion (35 percent) was channeled through cooperative credits, Rp 1.3 trillion (21 percent) for small and mid-size businesses programs, while Rp 445 billion had been used for the consumer credit market.
"Banks under IBRA actually have the capacity to further expand their credits to selective clients," Jerry said in a press statement last week.
Only Bank Niaga and Bank Bali had yet to start channeling new loans, he said.
The highest lenders were Bank Bukopin with Rp 2.8 trillion, BCA with Rp 1.2 trillion, Bank Universal and Bank Danamon with Rp 785 billion each, BII with Rp 313 billion, and Bank Lippo with Rp 199 billion.
Bank Artamedia, Prima Express and Bank Patriot each channeled credits of Rp 87 billion, Rp 42 billion and Rp 10 billion respectively, the statement said.
Jerry said that potential clients for these banks were small and midsize businesses and export oriented firms.