Fee-based income boosts BCA revenue

Fee-based income boosts BCA revenue

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Publicly listed PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) booked a Rp 1.76
trillion (US$162.36 million) net profit in the first half of the
year, or a 16.99 percent increase from the corresponding period
last year, boosted by significant growth in fee-based income and
outstanding loans.

According to the audited report, released on Monday, the
bank's net interest income went up by Rp 3.6 trillion, or 14.36
percent higher from the same period last year.

"Even in the situation where Bank Indonesia's rate increased
by almost 1 percent year on year, we were still able to increase
our net interest income by 14.36 percent compared to the first
semester 2004," the bank's president director Djohan Emir
Setijoso announced publicly on Monday.

The bank's net interest margin increased to 5.65 percent from
5.19 percent recorded in the same period last year.

"It was due to the increased earning assets and third party
liabilities," he said.

From January to June, the bank's third party liabilities
expanded by 4.08 percent, equal to Rp 128.31 trillion, from the
same period last year.

Showing increases in all key figures, the highest increase was
shown by fee-based income that jumped 35.78 percent to Rp 1.017
trillion.

"The increase showed that people trust us as their leading
transaction bank. In fact, our internet and mobile banking
transactions have increased sharply and exceeds such transactions
in any bank in Singapore," Setijoso said.

"It means, it has becomes more than just a fashion statement
that we have mobile banking, but it's really useful for our
customers," he added.

Outstanding loans also contributed to the bank's growth as
they increased by 30.59 percent compared to the same period last
year to Rp 43.71 trillion. This growth contributed almost equally
from corporate loans (36.85 percent), loans for small and medium
enterprises (45.99 percent) and commercial loans (17.16 percent).

"We were still able to increase our loans because our Capital
Adequacy Ratio stands at 25.79 percent, exceeding the central
bank's minimum regulation. As a result, we expect our loan growth
in the second semester will be more or less the same," he said,
adding that he also expected to see the same level of profit
growth in the second semester of the year.

Setijoso said in relation to the Indonesian Banking
Architecture (API), at present, the bank would position itself to
be a strong national bank.

"We have all the preconditions to be an anchor bank, but we
have to wait and see whether we will merge or acquire other
banks," he said.

BCA vice president director Jahja Setiaatmadja said BCA also
planned to open 30 more branches across the country before the
end of the year in the bank's business expansion plan.

"So far, we have only opened one more branch while seven more
will open in the foreseeable future. However, we're optimistic
that the target would be reached before the end of the year," he
said. (006)