The Financial Services
Authority (OJK) said that the Indonesian banking industry was showing much more
potential in comparison to its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Based on OJK data, as of Dec. 31, 2013, Indonesian banks had a
net interest margin of 4.89 percent, as reported by tribunnews.com.
In comparison, the net interest margin in the Philippines stood
at 3.3 percent, 2.6 percent in Thailand, 2.3 percent in Malaysia and 1.3
percent in Singapore.
"This shows that we have far better prospects than our
neighboring countries," Slamet Edy Poernomo, the OJK's banking supervision
director, said in Jakarta on Friday.
Slamet emphasized that Indonesians should anticipate the
expected increase in the number of foreign banks in the country following the
launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
"The OJK has prepared a 2014 Indonesian Banking Masterplan
in preparation for the AEC in order to enhance our banks'
competitiveness," he said.
Other efforts include educating the public about the importance of
consumer protection. (fss)
"I think this is a fresh angina for investors who will or already has share in Indonesia. But it must be so maintained, dikarenkan free trade (APEC) in 2015 which started a huge impact on the growth of the State economy. If the government can not afford to control Indonesia and could face huge losses."