Jakarta, 21 February 2022 -- The transformation of the Association of State-Owned Banks (HIMBARA) is considered capable of being the motor of national economic recovery during the pandemic. It is also hoped that the proactive role of state-owned Banks will continue this year in order to restore and help expand business players.
Meanwhile, HIMBARA managed to record a brilliant performance throughout 2021. The government-owned Bank group consisting of BRI, Mandiri, BNI and BTN in total was able to reap a profit of Rp 72.05 trillion at the end of December 2021. This achievement was recorded to have shot up to 78.06 % of profit in 2020 of Rp 40.34 trillion.
If detailed, in total throughout 2021, BRI was able to make a profit of Rp 30.76 trillion, Mandiri Rp 28.03 trillion, BNI Rp 10.89 trillion and BTN was able to contribute a profit of Rp 2.37 trillion. The Banking Observer, Paul Sutaryono said that HIMBARA's performance was very positive. Moreover, Himbara has a duty as an agent of development, so it is demanded by many parties to be a pioneer in stimulating the real sector.
These state-owned Banks are actively looking for quality growth niches during the pandemic so that distribution can grow more positively in the second year of the pandemic. This also has an impact on re-absorption of labor in order to re-increase industrial production capacity, as well as restore people's purchasing power. “The government Bank is obliged to disburse credit to sectors that are able to absorb a lot of workers. For this reason, state Banks like it or not, have to channel credit to the manufacturing, agriculture and infrastructure sectors," he said, Monday (21/2/2022).
As an illustration, BNI, for example, is a Bank that is mandated as a Himbara Bank that goes global. Paul believes that BNI's business specialization in the international trade segment (trade finance) has been going on for a long time. This is supported by a minimum of six overseas branch offices. Call it, New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul. "Moreover, the number of overseas branch offices will continue to grow as the international business wing," he said.
On the other hand, Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira said that the biggest challenge for Himbara in the future is investment that is not cheap, especially for those who have new digital Bank subsidiaries. This is because investment is needed not only for application development but also for user experience and cyber security. "State-owned Banks that have digital Bank subsidiaries in the early years, their operational costs have increased significantly, the capital needed for investment from conventional Banks," said Bhima.
He gave an example, such as BNI, which recently acquired Bank Mayora which will become a digital Bank. At the beginning of its formation, the company had to prepare investments in technology, human resources, and service systems. The investment, said Bhima, is certainly very expensive and will drain the initial year's capital. Another challenge, added Bhima, is that BNI does not yet have an ecosystem like private digital Banks that have an e-commerce or ride-hailing ecosystem. "However, in the future, after the business model has been tested and received positive responses from customers, it will increase BNI's profitability," said Bhima.
BNI's success in developing a digital Bank, continued Bhima, will certainly have an impact on the prospects for BBNI's shares. Especially if BNI's digital Bank can do customer acquisition quickly. "The prospect of BNI's shares is quite positive. BBNI shares in the last six months rose 45.6%, also influenced by expectations for the development of digital Bank subsidiaries," said Bhima.
Meanwhile, the Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir, appreciated the brilliant performance of these state-owned Banks, saying that this achievement is the result of the transformation and efficiency that is currently being carried out by the Ministry of SOEs and all state-owned companies.
"Although we all continue to struggle with the disruption caused by the pandemic, HIMBARA's positive performance can still be improved. The financial, operational, and socially responsible performance carried out can improve rapidly. This is inseparable from the transformation that is being performed," added Erick.
Erick Thohir also appreciated the transformation in each HIMBARA Bank which has now become a competitive advantage in competition in the national financial industry. He said that each HIMBARA Bank has a unique and different specialization so that there is no overlap. This means that each has its own business focus.
For example, BRI is increasingly focusing on the MSME and ultra micro segments, Mandiri is dedicated to focus on working on the corporate and national business segments so that they can continue to rise, BNI has a special task of working on international business and BTN will remain in its main business in the housing sector to reduce backlog numbers and help community, including millennials, to make it easier to find housing.
"In the future, we certainly hope that HIMBARA's role will be increasingly felt and become the main driving force for the national economy through empowerment of various segments and provide a positive impact for all stakeholders and especially the Indonesian people," added Erick.