Indonesia plans to set up holding company for state banks

The Indonesian government will establish a holding company for all stateowned banks in the next three years to boost efficiency and raise equity.

"With this holding company, we will have strong banks which can provide financing for the government projects," said Gatot Trihargo, deputy minister at the stateowned enterprises ministry.

Indonesia badly requires huge funds for financing of huge infrastructure projects to prop up economic growth, which is expected to be over 7 percent by 2019.

With the plan, the Indonesian government also aims to strengthen competitiveness of the country's banking sector in the Southeast Asian region as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) rolled in earlier this year.

Among the state banks will be involved in the plan are Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Tabungan Negara and Bank Negara Indonesia, said Gatot at the ministry.

On operation, all the lenders will share the automatic teller machine facility, so that it would cut operational cost.

The biggest economy in Southeast Asia expects its economy to expand by up to 5.3 percent this year from that of 4.79 percent this year, requiring bigger roles of banking sector to support the target.

The Indonesian central bank attempts to impose loosening to help accelerating the growth. Endite