Bank Universal books profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Universal booked a net profit of Rp 20 billion during the January-May period this year, the bank's director Djemi Suhenda said here on Monday.

Djemi said about Rp 8 billion of the Rp 20 billion profit was raised from the collection of past nonperforming loans.

"This year we have set a target of between Rp 25 billion and Rp 30 billion net income," said Djemi after the bank's annual shareholders meeting on Monday.

He said that during the first five months of the year Bank Universal had channeled Rp 850 billion in new loans, mostly to small-scale and natural resource-based companies.

Bank Universal, with a capital adequacy ratio of 4.6 percent as of end of May, plans to extend new loans of up to Rp 1.8 trillion this year to boost its earnings, he said.

Bank Universal, which is listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, booked a net loss of Rp 1.7 trillion in 1999. It is one of the banks that joined the government-sponsored bank recapitalization program. (udi)