Govt nationalizes BCA, Danamon
JAKARTA (JP): The government decided yesterday to nationalize the country's largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA), in a move to convince the public that it is serious about restructuring the beleaguered banking sector.
Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto announced that the government would also take over the ownership of Bank Danamon, Bank Tiara Asia and Bank PDFCI.
In the same announcement, he said the government was immediately suspending the operations of Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI), Bank Umum Nasional (BUN) and Modern Bank, pending their subsequent liquidation.
Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia, Bank Dagang Negara, Bank Bumi Daya and Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) -- all state banks -- are also to be merged into a new entity, to be called Bank Mandiri.
Bambang appealed to the public not to panic, stressing that the government was guaranteeing all deposits.
"Owners of checking accounts, savings and deposits at BDNI, BUN and Modern Bank should not panic. The government stands behind them."
He said deposits at BDNI would be transferred to state Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Dagang Negara, while deposits at Modern Bank would be handled by Bank Dagang Negara and deposits at BUN would go to state Bank Rakyat Indonesia.
Employees of the three suspended banks will be retained for at least two months to support the banks' management in the transfer process. Their rights will be protected by existing rules.
All the suspended and nationalized banks, except BCA, are listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
The six publicly listed banks were taken over by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in April after receiving massive liquidity support from Bank Indonesia equivalent to more than 500 percent of their capital.
IBRA said Danamon received Rp 18.62 trillion (US$1.6 billion) in liquidity support as of the end of March, while BUN got Rp 6.63 trillion as of April 3, PDFCI received Rp 2.5 trillion and Tiara got Rp 2.44 trillion.
Figures for BDNI and Modern Bank, however, were not available since the two banks have yet to conduct a shareholders meeting.
BCA entered IBRA in June after it received a huge amount of central bank liquidity support following a run on the bank after the May 21 downfall of ex-president Soeharto, whose son and daughter have a stake at the bank.
Fresh funds
Bambang said the government had received statements from the owners or founders of BCA, Danamon, BDNI and BUN on their willingness to provide fresh funds or assets to the banks.
But he reiterated that the amount of funds and assets should cover all credits extended to their groups, including the central bank's liquidity support.
He said the banks had until Sept. 21 to submit the fresh funds or fixed assets.
BCA is controlled by Liem Sioe Liong, Indonesia's richest man who owns the giant Salim Group. Danamon is owned by Usman Admadjaja, while BDNI is controlled by Sjamsul Nursalim, chairman of the Gadjah Tunggal Group. BUN is jointly owned by Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, Soeharto's long-time golfing partner, and the Ongko Group.
Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita said that if the banks failed to pay the central bank, the government would seize their assets.
He cited examples of such assets, such as Bob Hasan's paper manufacturer PT Kiani Kertas in the case of BUN, and Liem's car making unit PT Indomobil, food giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur or cement maker PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa in the case of BCA. Properties in the Sudirman central business district could be seized in the case of BDNI.
"Former majority shareholders who have not agreed to negotiate in good faith will be pursued by the Attorney General's office immediately," he said.
Bambang said the banks' owners should absorb the losses for loans channeled to their related business groups, adding that BDNI's related-party lending was 85 percent of its portfolio, while BUN's was 70 percent and Modern Bank's was 100 percent.
Modern Bank is controlled by property tycoon Samadikun Hartono.
He added that non-performing loans at the frozen and nationalized banks would be transferred to IBRA's asset management unit.
The government will consider third party proposals to recapitalize, merge and acquire PDFCI and Tiara. Otherwise, the government plans to merge these two banks into Danamon.
Tiara is a medium-sized retail bank owned by the Ometraco Group, while PDFCI is a corporate bank controlled by state investment company PT Bahana Arta.
IBRA announced in June that the recapitalization of PDFCI and Tiara would require at least Rp 3.2 trillion and Rp 2.89 trillion in fresh funds respectively, including to pay back the central bank's liquidity support and meet the minimum 4 percent capital adequacy ratio requirement which must be fulfilled by the end of this year.
Bambang said Danamon managed to avoid having its operations frozen, partly because of its massive client base. The bank has about two million depositors, compared to BDNI's 200,000 and Modern's 40,000.
Bambang added that the seven banks whose operations were frozen in April would be liquidated soon.
The seven banks are Bank Surya, Bank Subentra, Bank Kredit Asia, Bank Pelita, Hokindo Bank, Deka Bank and Centris International Bank.
The government plans to hire a major international financial institution to assist it in merging its four state banks.
"The government plans to inject new capital to restore the condition of the new merged entity and IBRA's asset management unit will receive and assume responsibility of the non-performing loans of the new bank," he said.
The comprehensive banking measures are part of the International Monetary Fund-sponsored economic reform package to restructure the country's ailing banking sector, a key factor to revive the economy from its worst economic crisis in three decades. (rei/prb)