Mar'ie leads IBRA's committee

JAKARTA (JP): Former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad has been named chairman of the oversight committee of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo said on Monday his office had also appointed Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung as the oversight body's secretary.

Syafruddin is concurrently secretary of the government's Financial Sector Policy Committee (KKSK), which is chaired by Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie.

The government has further selected seven people from a field of 20 candidates to be members of the oversight body. The seven come from the banking, legal and management sectors and include banking observer Pradjoto.

Sudibyo said the new oversight committee was tasked to improve the performance of IBRA, which has been widely criticized for its slowness in restructuring the banking sector.

The government set up IBRA in January 1998 to restructure banks which ran into liquidity problems as a consequence of the Asian financial crisis.