Taspen to up stake in Kesejahteraan

Taspen to up stake in Kesejahteraan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned pension firm PT Taspen plans to boost its stake in
Bank Kesejahteraan from the current 10 percent, company president
Achmad Subianto said on Thursday.

"We have proposed to the Minister of Finance an increase in
our shares in the bank so that it could become the bank for
government employees," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Taspen manages around Rp 20 trillion (US$2.38 billion) worth
of funds, collected from some 3.7 million government employees.

Achmad also hoped the central bank would immediately approve
the plan as it was in line with Bank Indonesia's new ruling,
which requires banks to increase their capital level. The money
from Taspen could be used by Bank Kesejahteraan for that purpose.

He, however, declined to mention the size of the planned
investment in Bank Kesejahteraan.

Currently, Taspen invests around 60 percent of its funds in
bank time deposits and stocks and the remaining 40 percent in
bonds.

Achmad said Taspen planned to increase its investment in
government bonds this year as revenue from time deposits have
continued to declined since last year amid declining domestic
interest rates.

He added that Taspen's profit this year was projected to fall
to Rp 180 trillion from Rp 250 billion last year, mainly due to
the declining interest rates.