JAKARTA. PT Bank KB Bukopin Tbk (BBKP) booked an interest income increase of 23.5% year-on-year (yoy) to IDR 1.1 trillion in the first quarter of 2023.

The interest income growth in Q1 2023 was propelled by the new credit distribution in the same period that reached IDR 2 trillion. This new credit channelling rate was 38.3% yoy higher.

The total credit distributed by BBKP reportedly amounted to IDR 45.8 trillion in Q1 2023, which was corrected by 13.2% yoy, due to the company still being in the process of improving its asset quality.

In its effort on improving its asset quality, BBKP managed to record several substantial results. For example, its gross non-performing loan (NPL) massively dropped by 48.6% yoy from IDR 6.1 trillion in Q1 2022 to IDR 3.2 trillion in Q1 2023. Meanwhile, the gross NPL ratio also slid down to 7% in Q1 2023 from 11.8% seen in the same period last year.

"This asset quality improvement was successfully obtained through organic methods, including intensive billing and cessie, as well as inorganic means, such as portfolio divestiture and account erasure," Robby Mondong, Deputy President Director of BBKP.

The total savings collected by BBKP at the end of Q1 2023 were IDR 46.5 trillion, 5.4% yoy smaller. This correction was a consequence of BBKP's business strategy that aims to rearrange the composition of managed funds, by increasing the amount of Current Account Saving Account (CASA).

As of now, BBKP will focus on maintaining its loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) at 98.5%. This strategy is selected to prevent excessive underutilised funds. (KR/ZH)