Public Enemy Number One
When the 2008-2009 global financial crisis exploded, fingers were pointed at banks. Wall Street was identified as the glutinous giant, the harbinger of disasters. Now, that feeling of animosity is starting to infect Indonesia.
Indeed, banking here is very profitable. One simple yardstick is the net interest margin (NIM), the bank's profits from the difference between interest on deposits and interest on loans. In 2015, the NIM of Indonesian banking was 5.39 percent, almost triple the NIM of Singaporean banking which was lower than 2 percent. DBS, a Singaporean bank with the biggest assets in Southeast Asia, clocked a mere 1.94 percent NIM compared to BRI's 7.8 percent.
March 1, 2016
When the 2008-2009 global financial crisis exploded, fingers were pointed at banks. Wall Street was identified as the glutinous giant, the harbinger of disasters. Now, that feeling of animosity is starting to infect Indonesia.
Indeed, banking here is very profitable. One simple yardstick is the net interest margin (NIM), the bank's profits from the difference between interest on deposits and interest on loans. In 2015, the NIM of Indonesian banking
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