Panin's 2003 profit skyrockets

JAKARTA: Panin Bank, a publicly listed medium-sized bank, posted a staggering 315 percent increase last year in its after-tax profit from 2002, partly due to a rise in net interest margin (NIM).

A press release from the bank on Tuesday said its after-tax profit in 2003 stood at Rp 418.5 billion (US$55 million), a sharp rise from the Rp 101 billion recorded in 2002.

The increase is attributable to a complementary increase in the bank's NIM, from 5.53 percent in 2002 to 6.97 percent last year as Panin benefited from massive expansion in loan exposures -- mostly in the form of consumer financing.

Throughout the year, Panin extended Rp 1.15 trillion in housing loans and Rp 986 billion for cars, which represented a respective rise of 71 percent and 23 percent compared to the previous year.

Panin -- among the few banks that survived the 1997-1998 financial crisis without the aid of the government's bail-out program -- also recorded a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 42.3 percent and loan to deposit ratio (LDR) of 71.2 percent. In 2002, the bank's CAR stood at 32.9 percent, its LDR at 77.1 percent. -- JP