The Urgency of Transforming PNM into a Specialised Bank for MSMEs

This is a concrete step to prove that the state is present not as a profit-seeking lender. Jakarta (ANTARA) - The discourse from Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa to take over Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) from Danantara and transform it into a bank dedicated to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) represents a tactical move driven by data realities and the economic urgency of the real sector. Amid the government’s ambitious pursuit of an 8% national economic growth target, the restructuring of financial institutions is no longer merely an option but a necessity. However, the core point lies not just in the administrative transfer between institutions. The more fundamental question is: how can the state deliver an institution with high efficiency while fully supporting millions of business actors at the grassroots level? The answer to this question should serve as the compass for this transformation. It is important to understand why PNM’s position under Danantara creates structural barriers. Danantara operates under corporate logic: assets must generate competitive returns for shareholders. PNM, with its social mandate to serve more than 16 million ultra-micro customers, bears two opposing burdens. It is forced to grow as a business, while its mission demands it function as a public servant. The takeover by the Ministry of Finance is not merely about ownership — it is a solution to this fundamental contradiction. If we objectively dissect the anatomy of national finance, there is an irony rarely recognised by the public. Large state-owned banks generally record massive annual operational costs. Data up to the third quarter of 2025 shows efficiency ratios, measured by the Cost of Operational Expenses to Operational Income (BOPO), ranging from 63–72 percent (BRI 71.89%, BNI 72.25%, Mandiri 63.48%). This means that much of the revenue generated by banking is reabsorbed to fund bureaucratic structures, internal systems, and corporate operations themselves — not entirely for improving customer service quality. In contrast, PNM’s operational data provides a strikingly efficient picture. By the end of December 2025, PNM’s active customer base had surpassed 16.1 million individuals. Over the same period, PNM’s annual operational burden reached Rp13.02 trillion. If this operational burden is averaged across the entire active customer base, a surprising fact emerges: PNM’s real service cost is only around Rp808,000 per customer per year, or equivalent to Rp67,000 per month. These quantitative data prove that organically, PNM is far more agile and efficient in reaching the grassroots compared to the conventional banking model, which tends to have bloated internal costs. This “cost per head” efficiency of just tens of thousands of rupiah should become strong capital for the state to completely overhaul the burden structure long borne by MSME actors. This is where the momentum lies for the Ministry of Finance to introduce the concept of a “Basic Service Cost” that is fairer and more transparent. Performance-based capital partnership