INDONESIA - BANKING - Subsidiaries help lift Mandiri profits

www.thejakartapost.com - Subsidiaries of the nation’s largest lender Bank Mandiri (BMRI) helped lift the bank’s consolidated net profits significantly last year—a trend that the bank expects to persist in the years to come.

Mandiri president director Zulkifli Zaini said on Thursday the bank’s subsidiary business units booked a combined net profit of Rp 1.56 trillion (US$170 million) in 2011, contributing 12.73 percent to the group’s overall bottom line. (source)

WORLD -OPINION - Islamic banks need mergers to fill Western funding hole - Mandiri Syariah a winner ?

www.dailystar.com.lb - LONDON: Small and medium-sized Islamic banks may need to merge if they want to become bigger regional players capable of filling the funding hole left by shrinking Western banks, the head of Islamic finance at Deutsche Bank, told Reuters.

"There are mismatch challenges," Salah Jaidah said on the sidelines of the Euromoney Islamic finance summit in London.

"Their size, their appetite for long term funding, their ability to finance at competitive pricing. I see this as a big challenge and not happening already now," he added. (source)

INDONESIA - BANKING - Bank Mandiri allocates Rp 22.7t during Idul Fitri

Bank Mandiri has allocated a total of Rp 22.7 trillion (US$ 2.6 billion) to meet transaction demand during the Idul Fitri holidays.

Mandiri corporate secretary Sukoriyanto said 60 percent of the fund will be distributed to Greater Jakarta while the remainder would go to Semarang, Surabaya and Bandung.  (source)

BANKING - Race is on (Bank Muamalat)

Race is on It looks like the race to acquire a chunk of Indonesia’s Bank Muamalat is narrowing, with British
bank Standard Chartered apparently in pole position.  

Bank Muamalat was Indonesia’s first Shari’ah compliant bank, starting operations in 1992. It now serves about three million customers in Indonesia and Malaysia and had piqued the interest of Qatar’s largest Islamic bank, Qatar Islamic Bank and local operator Bank Mega, as well as Standard Chartered because of its strategic positioning in what many analysts regard as one of the most significant Islamic banking markets of the future. (source)

FINANCE - KUR - Mandiri Loans to Microbusinesses Hit Rp 6.5t

Jakarta. Bank Mandiri distributed Rp 6.5 trillion ($721.5 million) in loans to microbusinesses in 2010, 45 percent higher than the previous year, the bank announced in a statement on Sunday.

“Mandiri sees a lot of potential within the micro sector. We want to take a more active role in developing the sector that helps drive Indonesia’s economic development,” said Tardi, Bank Mandiri’s senior vice president for microbusiness development. Mandiri, Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, distributed loans to around 545,000 microbusiness in 2010 with about 4 percent in non-performing loans. The maximum platform of the loan, which is targeted for micro and household businesses, is Rp 100 million.

BANKING - Banks Step Up Ramadan Marketing Campaigns to Spur Growth: Islamic Finance

Emirates NBD PJSC of Dubai is waiving payments on personal loans for the holy month of Ramadan. Maybank Islamic Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur started automating charitable donations. Jakarta-based PT Bank Syariah Mandiri sponsors a television slot teaching Islamic banking.

BANKING - Indonesia's Mandiri ups rights issue, eyes $1.56 bn

JAKARTA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Bank Mandiri (BMRI.JK) said on Wednesday it aims to raise between 13-14 trillion rupiah ($1.45-$1.56 billion) in a rights issue this year, double its previous target for the capital raising.

Investors have snapped up Indonesian stocks .JKSE and bonds over the past 18 months, attracted by strong economic growth fuelled by domestic demand and commodities exports.

BANKING - Indonesia's Bank Mandiri (BMRI.JK) said on Wednesday it sees loan growth this year of over 20 percent, raising its full-year target slightly.

Indonesia's biggest bank by assets said in July that loan growth would be about 20 percent this year.
It also said it would set up an insurance joint venture and would inject 500 billion rupiah ($55.71 million) in its sharia unit. (Reporting by Janeman Latul; Editing by Sara Webb)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSJKB00388020100818 Wed August 18, 2010