Indonesian Political, Business & Finance News

BI introduces online credit information system

BI introduces online credit information system

JAKARTA (JP): The central bank, Bank Indonesia, has introduced
an online credit information system that will go into effect
April 20 for all private banks operating in the greater Jakarta
area, an informed source said.

The system, which was jointly set up by Bank Indonesia and PT
Lintas Artha, has been used by state-owned banks in Jakarta and
its neighboring towns since last January.

The operation of the system, according to the source, is to
prevent private and state banks from giving double loans to the
same borrowers.

"Bank Indonesia will provide data on both individuals and
groups borrowing money from all banks, including borrowers who
already have non-performing loans at other banks," he said.

Bank Indonesia, according the source, will also utilize the
system to monitor the growth of loans at banks, allowing the
central bank to know which banks have surpassed their credit
ceilings.

He said that for data collecting, Bank Indonesia has
instructed both private and state banks to submit comprehensive
data about their borrowers, including names, addresses and credit
amounts to the central bank every month.

"Any banks violating the deadline of reporting will be fined,"
he said, adding that the deadline is set for the 20th of the
following month.

He said the central bank has also revised the category of
loans to be reported. The new formulation stipulates that banks
must submit individual reports on borrowers with total loans of
Rp 5 million (US$2,949) and over, compared to Rp 30 million under
the old formulation.

"We have lowered the ceiling because of the increase in the
number of borrowers with loans between Rp 5 million and Rp 30
million due to the introduction of collateral-free loans," he
said.

Data from Bank Indonesia show that as of the end of August
1995, total loans provided by all banks in the country reached Rp
216 trillion in 8.3 million accounts.

Eight percent (Rp 16.6 trillion) of the total loans were
categorized as loans below Rp 5 million with 6.7 million
accounts.

Loans amounting to between Rp 5 million and Rp 30 million
accounted for 5 percent or Rp 10.1 trillion of the total loans
with 952,541 accounts.

Loans totaling Rp 30 million and over reached Rp 191 trillion,
or 87 percent of the total loans with 408,507 accounts.

The source said that in the future the system will also
provide information on the sources of funds for loans including
offshore loans, credit cards, bonds, commercial papers and
standby letters of credits.

According the source, Bank Indonesia has yet to give real time
information through its online information system. (08)

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