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)