Danamon, SPU sign new deal

JAKARTA (JP): The publicly listed PT Bank Danamon signed on Friday a cooperation agreement with the state-owned credit guarantor Perum Sarana Pengembangan Usaha (SPU) to help the former in lending to cooperatives, and small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

Danamon president Arwin Rasyid said that the cooperation agreement would help overcome the problem of the lack of collateral faced by SMEs and cooperatives in obtaining credit from banks.

Late last year, Danamon also signed a cooperation agreement with government-sponsored PT Permodalan Nasional Madani in a bid to provide more credit to the SMEs.

Arwin said that the bank planned to sign similar cooperation agreements with other institutions in the future.

He said that out of the bank's projected Rp 5 trillion to 7 trillion (US$736 million) in new lending this year, 20-25 percent would be allocated to SMEs and cooperatives.(rei)