Banks Begin to Slow Credit Disbursement, Focus on Sourcing Cheap Funds

Indonesian banks are entering a cautious mode in loan disbursements amid global uncertainties. Banks are focusing on maintaining the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR). The banking sector is now prioritising liquidity conditions, with an emphasis on boosting growth in low-cost funds or current account savings accounts (CASA). PT Bank Mega Tbk (MEGA) has set a policy to keep its LDR around 70%, below Bank Indonesia’s (BI) requirement of 78%-92%. Although this decision will incur a penalty on the minimum statutory reserve (GWM), the bank states that maintaining liquidity is more important. “For Bank Mega, maintaining liquidity is far more important, especially if a crisis occurs. Our experience during a crisis is that customers withdraw around 30% of the funds in the bank. Therefore, Bank Mega always maintains our liquidity policy at that level,” emphasised MEGA’s President Director Kostaman Thayib when met at the Bank Mega Auditorium on Tuesday (31/3/2026). This mid-cap bank owned by CT Corp is striving to maintain liquidity stability by promoting the growth of low-cost funding. Similarly, PT Bank OCBC NISP Tbk (NISP) recorded an LDR of 70.4% throughout 2025. This ratio level declined due to higher deposit growth compared to credit growth. OCBC Indonesia’s President Director Parwati Surjaudaja stated that this year, the LDR for the bank owned by Singapore’s OCBC has already exceeded 70%. However, she projects that the ratio will remain at around 80% for 2026. “Because we see that in the current conditions as well as in 2025, we very much want to ensure that we can maintain good liquidity,” said Parwati during the OCBC Indonesia’s AGMS press conference on Thursday (9/4/2026). She detailed that from OCBC Indonesia’s current LDR of around 70%, the largest growth comes from CASA. “So, low-cost funding. Thus, as can be seen from profitability and others, it can still be maintained well,” Parwati added. Separately, another private bank, PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk (BNGA), stated that its current liquidity condition is still good. CIMB Niaga’s President Director Lani Darmawan said this is because credit demand is weak. Nevertheless, she mentioned that Indonesia’s second-largest private bank will continue to pursue growth in low-cost funds, especially from non-retail customers. “Currently, liquidity is still good because demand for credit is indeed weak. However, we remain focused on CASA, especially from the non-retail segment,” said Lani when contacted by CNBC Indonesia on Wednesday (1/4/2026). CIMB Niaga still intends to optimise its intermediation function, with the LDR targeted at around 85%-90%.