Identifying ailing banks

Identifying ailing banks

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), which
functions as a sort of hospital for ailing banks, must be able to
cure its patients of the various afflictions they are currently
suffering. IBRA's task of having to detect at an early stage
anything improper about any of the banks operating in this
country is certainly not an easy one.

And that is not the only challenge it is facing. The
government's intention to make public the names of the 40 banks
that are said to be having problems must be carried out in a
clear-cut manner.

The government might find it worthwhile to reconsider its plan
to publish the names of the ailing banks. Although we agree with
the plan, it is important that, at the every least, IBRA prepares
bank ratings on the basis of international standards. Only after
this has been done should the government publish the ailing
banks' names -- in sufficient detail and in a manner that will
convince the public of the sincerity of its guarantee that all
funds deposited in local banks are safe.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta