Bank BJB records Rp 829 billion profit in Q2

BANKING - Publicly listed private lender Bank BJB recorded Rp 829 billion (US$62.15 million) profit in the second quarter, according to the bank’s financial report published on Monday.

The figure decreased 3.2 percent from the same period last year, which was at Rp 856 billion.

Bank BJB president director Ahmad Irfan said the decrease in profit was due to the high cost of funds that the bank obtained last year, which was still affecting the bank.

“It was a domino effect from late 2016 when we obtained a lot of expensive funding, which caused increases in our credit interest rate,” Ahmad said on the sidelines of a Bank BJB analysts' meeting in Jakarta on Monday.

Nevertheless, the bank, which is owned by the West Java administration, booked 12.9 percent in credit growth – far above the national average of 7.77 percent.

Its non-performing loans, meanwhile, went down to 1.57 percent from 2.02 percent in the second quarter of last year.

The bank relies mainly on micro credit growth, which increased 28.3 percent. Its commercial and consumer credit also went up by 14.7 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively.

“We remain optimistic that we will end the year with excellent performance,” said Ahmad.