Bank Permata’s profits up slightly

JAKARTA. Publicly-listed Bank Permata on Wednesday reported a moderate increase in net profits in the first half of this year despite a significant rise in revenues.

The private lender, owned by diversified conglomerate PT Astra International and Standard Chartered Bank, saw its net profits rise by 5 percent Rp 837 billion (US$62.2 million) from last year amid weak growth of credit.

Bank Permata’s lending rose mildly by 2 percent to Rp 130 trillion, primarily driven by trade finance and lending products for small and medium enterprises as well as middle-market companies. 

The bank’s revenues, however, surged by 21 percent to Rp 4.23 trillion from the past year, mainly driven by stable performance in Bancassurance, trade finance, treasury activities and equity participation by automotive financing firm PT Astra Sedaya Finance, another subsidiary of Astra. The bank booked a 16.35 percent rise in net interest income (NII) to Rp 3.13 trillion in the January-June period and a 34.97 percent in fee-based income to Rp 1.1 trillion.

The worsening macro-economic outlook also affected the lender’s bad loans, resulting in higher gross non-performing loans (NPL) ratios to 2.15 percent in the first semester from 1.45 percent in 2014.