Standard Chartered named to restructure Bapindo
Standard Chartered named to restructure Bapindo
JAKARTA (JP): The government appointed Standard Chartered Bank
(SCB) of Britain to restructure the management of the scandal-hit
Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) yesterday, despite
opposition from local banking experts.
The British bank will prepare a five-year technical program
for the state-owned Bapindo under an agreement signed yesterday
by Director General for the Supervision of State Enterprises
Martiono Hadianto and R. Douglas Dowie, the chief executive of
SCB's Indonesian operation.
Finance Minister Mar'ie Muhammad said that SCB was one of five
foreign banks, including Citibank, proposing to provide technical
assistance for Bapindo.
"We appointed SCB because they are relatively more prepared
than the other four," he told newsmen following the signing of
the technical agreement.
The signing of the accord was also witnessed by British
Ambassador Graham Burton and Bank Indonesia (central bank)
Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono.
Mar'ie said SCB's plan to move its Asian training center from
Singapore to Jakarta was also another reason for choosing the
bank for the advisory job.
"Other state, and even private banks could benefit from SCB's
training facilities," he said in an indirect response to the
opposition of a number of local banking experts on the technical
program.
Setback
The government's plan to invite foreign banks to restructure
the management and operation of Bapindo was announced early this
year but it was opposed by local banking experts, describing the
plan as a setback to the country's banking industry.
Dowie said that SCB, which has been operating in Indonesia for
more than 130 years, will set up a team of four professional
bankers to conduct "advisory" tasks for Bapindo.
"The team, according to Bapindo's needs, may be enlarged" he
told newsmen.
The technical agreement requires SCB to establish general
procedures in such fields as lending, internal audit and risk
management, Dowie said, strongly denying the possibility of their
being engaged in an "executive role."
He refused to elaborate on the fees involved in the deal but
stated that financial gain was not the motive.
The finance minister appointed on Thursday Arbali Sukanal K,
a former director of the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya (BBD), as the
president of Bapindo, under the bank's second reshuffle since the
disclosure of a scandal involving unpaid bank debts of over
US$430 million in mid-1993.
Eddy Tansil, the prime suspect in the loan scandal, was
sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment, while Maman Suparman, a
former head of Bapindo's Jakarta branch, was jailed for nine
years for his part in the loan scam. Four former Bapindo
directors are now being tried by Jakarta courts.(hen)
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