Japanese banker nominated to lead BII

JAKARTA (JP): Shareholders of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) approved on Monday the appointment of Hiroshi Tadano as the bank's new president.

Tadano, a Japanese citizen who was previously the bank's vice president, replaced Hanafi Gan, a Malaysian banker appointed by BII last September.

The bank's extraordinary shareholders' meeting also approved the appointment of six new directors.

They are Gustiono Kustianto and Raymond Yauwenas, both senior officials of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA); former BII credit card center senior official Rudy N. Hamdani; former executive of the Jakarta headquarters of Standard Chartered Bank Halim Susanto; former Citibank Jakarta legal executive Fransiska Oei and former executive of American Express bank Hedy Lapian.

Yap Tjay Soen remained on the board of directors.

In addition, the shareholders approved the appointment of Rusli Prakarsa, previously vice chief commissioner of privately owned Panin Bank, as the chairman of the six-member board of commissioners. Anggito Abimayu, a member of President Abdurrahman Wahid's National Council of Economic Advisors, was also named a new member of the board of supervisors.

Winarto Soemarto, Aditiawan Chandra, Suad Husnan and Sudiarso maintained their positions on the board.

BII, one of several major banks under the government-sponsored bank restructuring program, is 57 percent owned by IBRA, 27.2 percent by the Eka Tjipta Widjaya family and the remainder by the public.

Tadano told reporters that BII, which suffered an estimated loss of Rp 1.9 trillion (US$254 million) last year, expected to return to profit this year.

Tadano said performance in 2000 would also be helped by expected payment of interbank claims from other banks under IBRA's control.

"I think we have around 1.5 trillion rupiah interbank claims, settlement expected in two months," he said.

IBRA's payment of interbank claims was delayed by a scandal last year surrounding Bank Bali's efforts to get claims repaid.

BII made a net loss of 1.73 trillion rupiah in the first nine months of 1999.

The meeting also agreed to the bank's private placement plan which will seek to find investors for a 11 percent stake in the bank held by IBRA.

According to Tadano, BII needs Rp 8.7 trillion in funds to recapitalize the bank.(udi)