Lippo Bank's profit up

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Lippo Bank of the widely diversified Lippo Group posted a 58.8 percent rise in net profit to Rp 87.2 billion (US$36 million) in the first half this year.

The bank said yesterday that income from operations rose 60 percent to Rp 121.2 billion and pretax income grew 57.1 percent to Rp 124 billion.

Lippo Bank raised its full year net profit forecast to Rp 180 billion from Rp 170 billion because of higher yields on interbank placements and healthy loans growth.

Higher interbank borrowing rates were having a positive impact on the back of the bank's strong liquidity and its position as a net lender in the interbank market while maintaining cost discipline.

The bank said funds mobilization remained strong with customer deposits growing 29.4 percent to Rp 10.3 trillion.

These new funds have helped the bank maintain a conservative loan-to-deposit ratio of 80.6 percent compared with an industry average of more than 100 percent.

The bank's president Markus Permadi said "prudent asset and liability management, together with a tight rein on expenses were important in helping us deliver such strong results in this year." (aly)