REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) will lend PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk (BTPN) another 300 million USD to facilitate lending to low-income families, micro and small businesses, and women entrepreneurs.
IFC, a World Bank Group member, provided the Indonesian rupiah equivalent of 75 million USD for its own account and mobilized an additional 225 million USD in Indonesian rupiah from SMBC, which owns a 40 percent stake in BTPN.
The funding will help BTPN, the mid-sized lender, to expand access to finance in Indonesia, including for the estimated two million women entrepreneurs, and develop new products to better serve its customers.
"These past few years, BTPN has developed a very strong strategic partnership with IFC, which we believe has significantly supported BTPN in achieving its vision to be the best mass market bank, making a difference in the lives of millions," President Director of BTPN Jerry Ng noted in a press release here on Tuesday, March 3.
"With SMBC playing a significant role in this cooperation, we see an even stronger collaboration that demonstrates a joint commitment to provide wider access to financing to benefit our country's economic development," Jerry stated.
In Indonesia, women entrepreneurs and smaller businesses still face significant challenges in obtaining access to credit.
Over the next four years, BTPN aims to increase its lending to micro, small, and medium enterprises and the productive poor to reach more than a few million customers.
The majority of these will be women micro entrepreneurs whom BTPN intends to reach through its Shariah subsidiary, BTPN Syariah. "SMBC has contributed to BTPN's faster loan growth and is committed to continuing to lower its costs of funding," Masayuki Shimura, SMBC's Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific Division and Emerging Markets Business Division, stated.
He remarked that SMBC intended to support the sustainable growth of BTPN through further collaboration. In addition, IFC Indonesia's Country Manager Sarvesh Suri pointed out that BTPN is strategic partner in promoting financial inclusion in Indonesia, an objective aligned with the Indonesian government's priorities.
"Improving access to financial services to underserved segments, including women and rural entrepreneurs, helps them to grow their businesses and better support their families," he affirmed.
This is the second joint investment by IFC and SMBC in BTPN. Last August, IFC and SMBC provided a financing package comprising a 50 million USD Indonesian rupiah-equivalent senior loan to the bank, as well as 150 million USD in rupiah equivalent financing, of which 50 million USD came from IFC and 100 million USD came from SMBC, to fund the growth of its micro, small and medium enterprise financing business.
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