NISP's 8-month profit rises 85%

NISP's 8-month profit rises 85%

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Bank NISP, an Indonesian lender 22.5 percent owned by
Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said profit in the
first eight months rose 85 percent as lending expanded.

Profit in the eight months ended Aug. 31 rose to Rp 180.7
billion (US$19.9 million), or Rp 43.73 a share, from Rp 97.6
billion, or 24.08 rupiah a share, a year earlier, the lender said
in an e-mail statement sent to Bloomberg.

Net interest income, or revenue from borrowers after interest
was paid to depositors, rose 53 percent to Rp 411.3 billion from
Rp 268.7 billion a year earlier.

The lender, which is 15.05 percent owned by the World Bank's
International Finance Corporation unit, had total loans
outstanding of Rp 9.24 trillion in the first eight months this
year compared with Rp 7.7 trillion a year earlier.

Bank NISP and other Indonesian lenders are benefiting as
interest rates at close to six-year lows propel loan growth.
Cheaper loans are helping to spur the construction of homes and
shopping malls and fuel consumer spending, which already accounts
for more than two-thirds of the $208 billion economy.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy may expand as much as 4.8
percent this year from 4.5 percent growth in 2003, accelerating
to 5.4 percent next year, the government has forecast.

Shares of Bank NISP, which have risen 58 percent this year,
rose Rp 25, or 4.5 percent, to Rp 575 on the Jakarta Stock
Exchange.

The lender will release nine-month results in the last week of
this month, said Sandra Atmadja, spokeswoman at the lender.

NISP didn't explain why it was announcing eight-month
earnings.

Indonesian banks are to report unaudited January-September
earnings at the end of this month.