BI temporarily suspends Bank Putera's clearing activities

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia has temporarily suspended the clearing activities of Bank Putera after the bank's account balance at the central bank hit the negative area.

"Bank Indonesia suspended our clearing activities today (Tuesday) due to our negative balance," Bank Putera president Masyhud Ali said on Tuesday.

However, Ali said Bank Putera, which is controlled by the Texmaco Group, would inject on Wednesday morning the required amount of cash to the central bank in order to settle the negative balance.

A negative balance arises when a bank has more obligations than claims to third parties.

If the negative balance is not immediately settled by a cash injection by the concerned bank, Bank Indonesia will temporarily suspend the bank's clearing activities.

Ali declined to disclose the required amount Bank Putera would have to provide to the central bank to lift the clearing suspension, but hinted the amount was much less than Bank Putera's total assets.

He said Bank Putera's total assets as of November 1999 stood at Rp 2.9 trillion with a net equity of Rp 440 billion.

Bank Putera is 98 percent owned by holding company Multikarsa Investama of the Texmaco Group textile and heavy machinery concern.

The group has been entangled in a Rp 9.65 trillion loan controversy from state Bank Negara Indonesia involving former president Soeharto.

Ali said depositors with Bank Putera started to rush to withdraw their money on Monday. The rush continued until Tuesday and finally led to the central bank clearing suspension.

"The rush was provoked by an Internet media report last Saturday which gave false information about Bank Putera," he said.

He said the report mistakenly quoted President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is better known as Gus Dur, as implying that Bank Putera had been transferred to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

"The media report was not right. What Gus Dur said was actually that non-bank Texmaco Group companies were transferred to IBRA."

Ali said he hoped Bank Putera could clarify the misinformation to the public and begin to operate normally again after providing on Wednesday the required funds to settle its negative balance at its central bank account.

Ali stressed that Bank Putera was grouped in the category "A" banks, meaning its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was above the 4 percent required level for a sound bank.

Banks in this category were not under the control of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Ali said, adding that Bank Putera's CAR as of June this year stood at 12 percent. (udi)