New bank syndicate to finance housing
New bank syndicate to finance housing
JAKARTA (JP): Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), Bank Papan Sejahtera
(BPS) and Bank Dagang dan Industri (BDI) agreed yesterday to form
a syndication to finance housing projects.
BTN president Widigdo Sukarman said that the loan syndication
was formed to anticipate the growing demand for housing credits
in the coming years.
"It is also our response to Bank Indonesia Governor Soedradjad
Djiwandono's appeal that banks should spread risks," he said
following the signing of the agreement.
The accord, the first loan syndication agreement among local
banks, was signed by Widigdo, BDI president Prayogo Mirhard and
BPS president Asmuadji.
Widigdo said that the loan financing would be mainly directed
toward the development of small and medium size houses in the
country.
Widigdo is the former president of BPS, while both Prayogo and
Asmuadji are former presidents of BTN.
"This is not only a project between friends but one of our
commitments in supporting the government's housing development
program," he said.
He said that the government expects the construction of, at
least, 500,000 small-size houses, measuring between 18 and 36
square meters in the next five years.
"The financing will include credits for land acquisition,
house construction and ownership licenses," he said.
Prayogo said BDI, a private bank owned by prominent members of
the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), will
engage only in the financing of housing development.
Unlike state-owned BTN and BPS, BDI has no significant
allocation for house ownership credits, he said.
Prayogo acknowledged that no targets have been set for both
the value and the number of projects to be jointly financed by
the three banks this year.
He, however, said that he was optimistic that the joint loan
financing would not only benefit the participating banks but also
housing developers.
"Through the loan syndication scheme, a developer no longer
needs to deal with several banks in raising loans. They are
required only to contact one of them, which acts as the
arranger," he said.(hen)