BRI: MSMEs Support Business Resilience Amid Global Turbulence
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Director of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI) Hery Gunardi has assured that the company continues to monitor potential risks prudently, particularly in the credit portfolio, amid increasing uncertainty due to geopolitical conflicts, especially in the Middle East region.
The company views its business structure, based on the MSME segment, as providing relatively good resilience, in line with its granular characteristics that are not concentrated in a single segment.
“And the amounts are also small, unlike corporations where one loan can be in the trillions; these are not too large,” Hery stated during the BRI Financial Performance Media Briefing for the First Quarter of 2026, held online in Jakarta on Thursday.
From a risk perspective, he assured that close monitoring will continue for several sectors with high sensitivity to global uncertainty.
“Such as sectors related to export commodities, for example, then sectors directly impacted by fluctuations in energy and exchange rates. These are also our concerns,” Hery said.
To date, he assured that the company’s asset quality remains well-maintained, reflected in the stable Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio and continuous improvement in Loan at Risk.
According to him, this is inseparable from the implementation of disciplined risk management, including selective growth, ongoing portfolio monitoring, and strengthening of early warning signals.
“So we also position the risk management role upfront. Risk management will certainly determine the RAC (Risk Acceptance Criteria) at the start. So the business will enter which segments, then which sub-segments, with measured and maintained RAC,” Hery said.
Going forward, the company will continue to uphold the principles of prudence or prudential banking, as well as good corporate governance (GCG), while maintaining a balance between business growth and asset quality.
For the first quarter of 2026, BRI recorded a net profit of Rp15.5 trillion, or a 13.74% year-on-year (yoy) growth compared to the same period in the previous year.
The company’s performance was supported by interest income growth reaching Rp52.83 trillion in the first quarter of 2026, or a 5.94% (yoy) increase. On the other hand, interest expenses decreased by 9.31% to Rp12.68 trillion in the same period, thereby widening the bank’s net interest margin.