IBRA seizes Rp100t in bad bank assets
IBRA seizes Rp100t in bad bank assets
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA)
took over Rp 100 trillion (US$11.5 billion) in nonperforming
loans from the seven state banks.
"The bad loans belong to some 1,200 debtors at Bank Bumi Daya,
Bank Dagang Negara, Bank Pembangunan Indonesia, Bank Tabungan
Negara, Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and
Bank Negara Indonesia," IBRA deputy chairman Eko S. Budianto said
on Thursday.
Bad debts have pushed the state banks into technical
bankruptcy, but they remain in operation because of the
government's deposit guarantee and liquidity support from the
central bank.
Budianto said the financial restructuring would remove bad
assets from the banks' loan portfolios so they could concentrate
their resources on managing their productive assets.
However, he added that the transfer of the bad assets to IBRA
would not automatically lead to the liquidation of corporate
debtors.
"Debtors who show good faith and still have good business
prospects will be helped to continue their operations through
credit restructuring."
Collect
He said that IBRA would attempt to collect the debts, adding
the agency would vigorously pursue debtors.
"We will not write off the debts of certain corporate
borrowers as some people have suspected."
A large number of the biggest debtors at state banks are
politically well-connected businesspeople.
Recent media reports listed former president Soeharto's sons
and cronies among the largest debtors at four state banks: Bank
Bumi Daya, Bank Dagang Negara, Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia and
Bank Pembangunan Indonesia. These four banks are in the process
of being merged to form Bank Mandiri.
The reports said Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala
Putra, owed $400 million and Rp 1.7 trillion to the four banks,
and Soeharto's second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo, and his
associates owed the banks $2.7 billion and Rp 1.9 trillion.
Businessman Prajogo Pangestu, a Soeharto crony, owes the banks
Rp 2.6 trillion, according to the reports.
Budianto said IBRA also would take over the bad assets of the
nine private banks which had qualified for the government's bank
recapitalization program. (vin)