No ownership change in BII despite Widjaja's removal

No ownership change in BII despite Widjaja's removal

JAKARTA (JP): The share ownership composition of publicly
listed PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) has not changed,
despite the removal of the Widjaja family from the bank's
management, according to the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX).

"The share composition remains the same as that after the
bank's rights issue in July," the JSX said in a statement on
Monday, after it received an explanation from BII regarding the
bank's share composition and management reshuffle.

The Widjaja family still holds a 27.12 percent stake, the
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency 57.14 percent and the public
15.74 percent, the JSX said.

Bank Indonesia announced last week the removal of Indra
Widjaja and his father Eka Tjipta from their respective positions
as the bank's president and chief commissioner. The removal was
made because the father and son did not pass a "fit and proper
test" carried out by the central bank.

"The fit and proper test only affects the company's
management, not the company's share ownership," the JSX said,
assuring that the Widjajas' failure in the test would not affect
the bank's share-holding composition.

The JSX said that BII needed to find a replacement for the
outgoing Widjaja family.

BII had told JSX officials that it would announce the bank's
new management and members of board of commissioners soon, the
JSX said.

The Widjajas' are no longer qualified to be in any position
directly relating to the management or supervision of BII because
of their failure to abide by the legal lending limit.

According to the central bank's legal lending limit, a
domestic bank can only lend credit of up to 20 percent of its net
equity to an unrelated party, or only 10 percent of the equity to
the related party such as businesses owned by shareholders of the
bank.

The JSX said that BII's loans, mostly in foreign currencies,
extended to the Widjajas' businesses exceeded the legal lending
limit particularly due to the sharp decline in rupiah against the
U.S. dollar.

The trading of BII shares was suspended last Wednesday, but
restarted trading on Monday following the bank's explanation
regarding the management reshuffle and the share composition of
the bank.

BII shares closed at Rp 150, down by Rp 25 from Rp 125 on
Tuesday's close.

BII is one of several listed banks qualified for the
government-sponsored program.

The founder and the investing public provided 40 percent of
the capital requirement needed to lift BII's capital adequacy
ratio (CAR) to 4 percent in the recapitalization program, while
the government agreed to inject the remaining 60 percent. (udi)