BNI 1st-half profit up

JAKARTA: State Bank Negara Indonesian (BNI) said on Wednesday its first-half net profit rose 7.7 percent to Rp 1.512 trillion (about US$170 million), benefiting from Bank Indonesia's lower benchmark rates over the period.

The bank said its interest costs fell by Rp 346 billion to Rp 5.317 trillion, and its interest earnings rose by 252 billion to Rp 7.258 trillion.

Its unaudited first half capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 18.22 percent, up from 17.28 percent last year.

"The decline in Bank Indonesia's rates has lowered the cost of serving interest payments (on customer deposits)," said BNI's director for risk management, Binsar Pangaribuan.

Bank Indonesia's benchmark rates have fallen by about two percentage points on the back of a stronger rupiah in the first six months of this year.

Binsar said BNI's overseas branches were also performing better than last year. He gave no details, but said BNI had branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and London. --JP