BRI posts net profit of Rp25.8 trillion

State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) last year posted a net profit of Rp25.8 trillion, up 2.18 percent from a year earlier.

The profit growth was attributable to the banks prudential efforts as indicated by a rise in the ratio of reserves to non-performing loans to 170.53 percent in 2016 from 151 percent in 2015.

The 2016 income was mostly contributed by fee-based income which grew 25.2 percent to Rp9.2 trillion, BRI President Director Asmawi Syam said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, net interest income increased 16.2 percent to Rp65.7 trillion, he added.

“The interest income was fueled by credit growth which reached 13.8 percent or Rp635.3 trillion,” he said.

BRI Vice President Director Sunarso said the banks net profit grew only 2.18 percent as it adopted prudential principles amidst economic downturn and an upward trend of the banking industrys non-performing loans.

“The profit did not fall short of target. It continued to grow positively,” he said.

By adopting the prudential principles, the bank managed to keep down its non-performing loan ratio in 2016 to 2.03 percent from 2.02 percent (gross), while its reserve ratio rose to 170 percent from 151.5 percent.

He said the banks loan-to-deposit (LDR) ratio reached 87.7 percent and its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 22.9 percent.