Despite the domestic and global economic slowdown, the achievement is quite good and ahead of the previous forecast.Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) posted a net profit of Rp4.46 trillion in the first half of 2020 owing to a hike in third-party fund placement and loans channeled in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Despite the domestic and global economic slowdown, the achievement is quite good and ahead of the previous forecast,” BNI director for services and networks, Adi Sulistyowati, said here on Tuesday.
In the first half of the year, third-party fund placement swelled 11.3 percent to Rp662.38 trillion from Rp595.07 trillion last year.
The bank noted that the growth of third-party fund placement was better than that for the industrial level as of June, 2020, which grew 7.9 percent compared to 2019.
In raising third-party fund placement, the bank used low cost funds (CASA) as a main priority to improve the cost of fund, which reached 2.9 percent as of the first semester of 2020, Sulistyowati said.
The cost of fund improved by 30 basis points compared to last year, when it stood at 3.2 percent, thereby reducing the first-half interest expenses by -5.6 percent, she explained.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank was still able to keep its net interest margin at 4.5 percent, she added.
Meanwhile, the amount of loans channeled in the first half of 2020 grew by 5 percent to Rp576.78 trillion from Rp549.23 trillion in the same period last year. (INE)
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Translator: Dewa Ketut SW/Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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