BI to complete tests for top bankers soon

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The central bank is expected to complete its major reshuffle plans next week in the top management of some state banks.

Bank Indonesia (BI) director for bank information and licensing Siti C. Fadjrijah said on Wednesday the central bank had begun conducting a series of fit-and-proper tests on about 100 bankers from a government list.

"We have started interviewing between 10 and 12 of the bankers a day since yesterday," she said.

"We expect to complete the selection process before the first of the banks' shareholder meetings on May 16."

Bank Mandiri, among the state banks whose management will most likely be reshuffled, is scheduled to hold its annual shareholders' meeting on that date.

The management shake-up in Mandiri follows the recent high- profile disclosures of alleged lending scams in the bank.

Another state bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on May 19, while Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) will hold theirs later this month and in June, respectively.

Excluding Mandiri, the reshuffles in other banks are likely to come for less controversial reasons, the primary one being replacing incumbent directors who have reached retirement age.

However, analysts say the across-the-board changes could still cause some fireworks, considering the strategic position of heading a state-owned bank that manages trillions of rupiah worth of assets.

Siti said the fit-and-proper tests were only conducted on new nominees, while incumbent directors were not being interviewed.

"From the list of bankers I received, not all of the directors will be replaced," she said.

Siti would not mention which bankers would remain, which she said was a decision to be made by the government.

After the selection process, BI will hand back the list of nominee bankers to the government, which will then select the new directors in each of the banks' shareholders' meetings.

Siti, who the House of Representatives recently elected as the central bank's new deputy governor for bank supervision, also declined to reveal the central bank's latest evaluation of the directors' performance.

"The important point is that we will increase our supervision, conducting fit and proper tests before they assume their offices, and regularly every two years afterwards," she said.

Meanwhile, banking analyst Aviliani said the selection process for the directors and commissioners of state-owned banks should be made more transparent, to avoid the political interference that would later undermine the performance of officials in managing the banks.

"The government could for example follow the process of how state university rectors are elected, taking in nominees in an open and public manner," she said.