Bapepam suspends 16 securities companies
Bapepam suspends 16 securities companies
JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
has suspended 16 securities houses, mostly members of the Jakarta
Stock Exchange (JSX), for failing to meet capital requirements,
the chairman of agency said yesterday.
I Putu Gede Ary Suta said that the 16 securities companies
were being given until January to increase their capital or lose
their licenses.
Putu did not name the 16 securities companies but warned that
the increase in their capital was essential for them to continue
operating.
He acknowledged most securities companies operating on the
Jakarta bourse were financially weak.
Securities houses are required to have a minimum paid-up
capital of Rp 10.5 billion (US$2.62 million) to provide brokerage
services on the local stock bourses.
Asked if the suspended companies were allowed to merge to
enable them to meet the capital requirement, Putu said it was up
to them.
"We do not recommend on that but it is up to them. The growing
development of Indonesia's capital market requires at least 200
securities houses," he told an annual meeting of the Association
of Indonesian Securities Companies (APEI).
Of the 215 securities houses registered on the JSX, only 199
are deemed to have adequate working capital.
Putu said many shareholders of the local securities companies
were not serious enough in the stock trading business.
"Owners of securities companies (for example) inject only Rp
500 million in their securities companies while putting more than
Rp 2 billion in other businesses," he said.
Speaking on the prospect of securities companies in Indonesia,
president of Makindo, Gunawan Yusuf, said that securities
companies should be more creative in creating business in the
current bearish market.
"If the securities houses depend solely on brokerage fees,
they will go bankrupt. But if they are creative in finding new
business opportunities they can survive the current bearish
market," he said at the gathering.
He said new business opportunities included giving investment
advice, investment financing and strategic stake sales to listed
companies.
"I think most listed companies in Indonesia would surely
welcome any advice like that during this sluggish market,"
he said.
"The securities houses have hardly tapped these opportunities
during the market boom. But now is the time for them to take
advantage of these opportunities," he said.
Based on this outlook, he believed that Indonesian securities
industries would still survive even though the global and
regional stock markets were bearish. (aly)