JP/14/Brief1

Panin posts 86% profit increase

JAKARTA: Bank Panin, a medium-sized lender, reported on Wednesday an 86 percent increase in its third-quarter before-tax profit as compared with the same period last year.

The bank's third quarter profit stood at Rp 651 billion (some US$73 million), Panin said in a statement.

The statement outlined a 29 percent increase in assets to Rp 22.3 trillion during the quarter, and a 28 percent increase in lending exposure to Rp 10.6 trillion.

Net interest income, which reached Rp 935 billion, contributed the largest share in the bank's total profit, with fee-based income of Rp 447 billion in second.

As of September, Panin's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 39.6 percent, way above the central bank's minimum requirement of 8 percent, while its lending-to-deposit (LDR) ratio was at 71 percent. -- JP

;AP; ANPAf..r.. Brief-LIPPO-EARNS-UPDATE1 Lippo Bank's Profit Rises on Higher Interest Income (Update1) JP/14/Brief

Lippo Bank's 9-month net income surges

JAKARTA: PT Bank Lippo, an Indonesian lender controlled by a group of investors led by Austria's fourth- largest bank, said nine-month net income surged, exceeding its full-year target, as it earned more interest income and cut costs.

Unaudited net income at Lippo Bank, as the company is better known, increased to Rp 233.6 billion ($26 million), or Rp 59.7 a share in the nine months ended Sept. 30, from Rp 27.6 billion rupiah, or Rp 7.04 a share in the same period a year earlier, the Tangerang-based lender said in a statement published in Investor Daily newspaper.

Net interest income, or revenue from borrowers after deducting interest paid to depositors, rose a fifth to Rp 643 billion in the nine-month period from Rp 537 billion, Lippo Bank said.

The lender, which is controlled by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG of Austria and other investors, said earlier profit would probably reach Rp 200 billion this year, reversing a loss of Rp 516 billion in 2003.

The nation's eighth-largest lender by assets expects to lend as much as Rp 1.5 trillion more in the second half, President Joseph Luhukai said on July 19. --Bloomberg