ANT, Andin Aditya Rahman
Within a few days after the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced that Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla had won the presidential election, experts from various sectors are already expressing their hopes for the new administration. Not only experts, banking executives are also voicing their hopes, particularly in regard to the increasingly stringent liquidity requirements for banks.
“Indonesian bankers are already accustomed to a loose-fitting liquidity of 25 percent. But now, liquidity is much more stringent. This should encourage bank consolidations. Malaysia has boldly and properly seized this opportunity,” said Budi G. Sadikin, the Executive Director of Bank Mandiri, in Jakarta on Thursday
Mr. Sadikin was referring to the “
mega merger” of three banking giants in Malaysia, CIMB, RHB Capital, and Malaysia Building Society. With this merger, Malaysia has acquired additional capital for its banking sector which will also result in positive impacts on credit disbursements.
Commenting on credit disbursements, Mr. Sadikin asserted that if the targeted economic growth of 7 percent is to be achieved, the new administration must increase credit disbursements by three fold.
“If the new president wants growth of 7 percent, credit growth must be 21 percent. And if he wants growth of 10 percent, the credit growth of the banking sector must be three times at 30 percent,” Mr. Sadikin explained.
Under the current stringent rules for bank liquidity, banks are currently taking all necessary steps to collect third party funds. One possible solution to support this, according to Mr. Sadikin, is to transfer the funds of Indonesian conglomerates from Singaporean banks to domestic banks.
“That is my advice on how to move the money of our country’s rich people from Singapore,” he stated.
Mr. Sadikin also suggested the new administration implement programs to develop third party funds, and encourage Indonesian citizens to deposit their money into banks rather than keeping it in cash. These programs should be similar to the national development deposit program of the Soeharto administration.
This needs to be done according to Mr. Sadikin, considering that only 50 million people currently have bank accounts in Indonesia. The majority of the Indonesian population prefers to keep their money in cash rather than deposit it in banks.
(hot/kc)