Brace Yourself: Many Banks Queue for Large-Scale Mergers

Jakarta – The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has revealed that many Bank Perekonomian Rakyat (BPR) are still planning to consolidate to meet the single presence policy (SPP), i.e., single ownership. According to Dian, there are many BPRs planning to consolidate, with only a few banks yet to meet the SPP. ‘We’re going to merge them all now. We’re already in the queue; only a few remain,’ Dian said after the press conference on the Financial Services Sector Assessment and OJK Policy results for the February 2026 RDKB, on Tuesday 3 March 2026. Under the regulation, a party may be the controlling shareholder in only one commercial bank or BPR. Therefore, a PSP (pemegang saham pengendali) that owns multiple banks must merge or form a holding company. ‘The single policy means that one person or one company cannot own more than one BPR. So those that still exist in large numbers must be merged,’ Dian concluded. Not long ago, OJK granted the green light for the merger of four BPR in East Priangan, West Java. The four banks were PT BPR Nusamba Sukaraja, PT BPR Nusamba Plered, PT BPR Nusamba Singaparna, and PT BPR Mitra Harmoni Indramayu, into PT BPR Nusamba Tanjungsari. Merger of these four BPRs is part of a continuous consolidation of the banking industry to strengthen capitalisation, competitiveness and resilience of BPR in supporting financing to the real sector, especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In the past year, there were two large BPR mergers. First, four BPR within a single umbrella decided to merge. Among them: PT BPR Bina Sejahtera Insani (Binsani), PT BPR Rejeki Insani, PT BPR Dutabhakti Insani and PT BPR Bina Kharisma Insani. BPR Binsani, located in Karanganyar, Central Java, became the surviving entity receiving the other three BPRs. The merger was officially completed on 27 August 2025. Second, Bank Syariah Matahari, established by the Central Leadership (PP), obtained an operating license from OJK on 18 June 2025. The bank previously was a BPRS used as a shell to establish a Sharia-compliant Commercial Bank (BUS). Bank Syariah Matahari was chosen as the shell company because Muhammadiyah found it difficult to merge its 17 BPRS into one. Dian outlined the performance growth of BPR/BPRS throughout 2025. Although the number of BPR/BPRS declined, total assets grew 5.38% year-on-year as of November 2025. This was supported by credit growth of 5.48% YoY to Rp176.06 trillion and third-party funds (DPK) of 5.07% YoY to Rp167.72 trillion.