Bank Rakyat Indonesia eyes buying mid-sized lender

Aims to buy majority stake of a smaller bank with identical vision with its micro-loan expansion.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the country’s second-largest lender by market value, is looking to purchase a mid-size bank to boost its reach in the microfinance business, a company executive said on Friday.

“Bank Rakyat Indonesia now wants to acquire a bank which has the same vision,’’ said Muhammad Ali, the lender’s corporate secretary.

“Bank Rakyat’s policy is to buy a majority stake. That way, we can be fully committed to developing the bank into a better lender,’’ he said.

Ali declined to name any of the smaller banks BRI was considering for acquisition, nor did he give a timeline for the deal.

The Jakarta-based bank has lent Rp 188.9 trillion ($20.96 billion) to small- and medium-sized businesses in Indonesia this year through September.

The announcement comes just two days after the bank bought a majority stake in another lender. On Wednesday, shareholders approved a Rp 330.3 billion ($36.7 million) plan to purchase an 88.65 percent stake in Bank Agroniaga.

View the full story in The Jakarta Globe.