Govt to replace BRI, BTN management

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government plans to reshuffle the top management of state- owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) in the very near future to help improve the banks' performance, a senior government official said.

Suad Husnan, deputy for the banking and finance industry at the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises, said management changes at state enterprises under his supervision would be conducted immediately for BRI and BTN.

"The tenure of the management of BRI and BTN will expire next year, as they have served for four years. We need to rejuvenate the banks by putting in new people," said Suad at his office on Thursday.

Suad said the reshuffle would be conducted during the annual shareholders meeting and after the two banks completed their 2004 audited financial reports The meeting is scheduled for February or March next year.

State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto has previously said the ministry would not immediately change the management of state enterprises prior to the scheduled shareholders meeting.

Suad, however, refused to name the candidates.

At present, the post of BRI president director is held by Rudjito, who took over the helm in July 2000. Rudjito, 58, has been successful in launching the bank's initial public offering (IPO) last year and helping the bank form its corporate culture.

However, several financial leakages at the bank and fraud conducted by bank officials due to the weak internal supervision have blurred his success.

Meanwhile, the current president director post at BTN is held by Kodradi, who assumed the post in May 2000. Kodradi have been struggling to make BTN an efficient bank that mainly focuses on housing loans.

Interest rates offered by BTN for housing loans are currently still significantly higher compared to those offered by private banks, discouraging the public from taking the mortgage facility offered by the banks.

Regarding a possible reshuffle in other state banks, such as Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Mandiri, Suad said there were no plans for that yet, since the management of the two banks had been recently appointed.