PDFCI needs Rp 3.2t to live

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) said yesterday it would need Rp 3.2 trillion (US$228.5 million) in fresh funding to recapitalize the debt-ridden Bank PDFCI to meet the minimum capital requirement of 4 percent by the end of this year.

IBRA said in a statement that the latest audit of Bank PDFCI found that the banks's total assets were only Rp 1.8 trillion as of April 4, compared to Rp 4.4 trillion as reported by the bank's management.

PDFCI is among the six banks put under the supervision of IBRA in April after it received total liquidity support of Rp 2.5 trillion from the central bank, Bank Indonesia, as of April 4.

An executive of IBRA Ilham Ikhsan said that although the fate of the bank would be decided in a general shareholders meeting in July, the alternatives for PDFCI were recapitalization, merger or acquisition.

"Although the options available to PDFCI include resolution through closure, this is considered to be the worst-case scenario," Ilham told journalists after an extraordinary shareholders meeting here yesterday. (aly)