Indonesia's Bank Century says has enough capital

By Andreas Ismar and Tyagita Silka

JAKARTA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The capital adequacy ratio at Indonesia's PT Bank Century Tbk (BCIC.JK), taken over by the government last week, has reached the minimum required level and should rise further, its chief said on Thursday.

The bank, a relatively small lender with total assets of 15 trillion rupiah ($1.24 billion), was the first bank to be taken over by the government since the Asian crisis in the late 1990s.

President director Maryono said the capital adequacy ratio had reached the required minimum level of 8 percent, against minus 2 percent when the state-owned deposit insurance agency (LPS) took the bank over last week.

"LPS has injected funds and the required 8 percent level has already been met," Maryono said, noting the insurance agency was committed to raising the capital ratio to 10 percent.

Maryono, who goes by one name, did not give details on the value of funds that had been injected, but LPS chief Firdaus Djaelani said separately it would probably require about 2 trillion rupiah to raise the capital adequacy ratio to 10 percent from minus 2 percent.

The central bank said on Sunday that a major cause of the liquidity problems had been a failure by Bank Century to receive about $56 million of payments due on bonds maturing in late October and early November.

Bank Indonesia declined to give details on the debt issuers.

Separately, police detained Robert Tantular, a controlling shareholder of the bank on Tuesday, and declared him as a suspect over his role in the troubled lender.

Neither Tantular nor his lawyer were immediately available to comment.

The deposit insurance agency now controls 100 percent of the bank. Previously, Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) controlled 11.3 percent of Bank Century, while First Asia Holdings held 9.6 percent, Reuters data showed.

As in many nations, the interbank market in Southeast Asia's top economy has been hit by a liquidity squeeze in recent months.

Analysts do not see Bank Century's liquidity problems as a sign of widespread problems in Indonesia's banking system, but the problems come as the rupiah has been trading near a 10-year low against the dollar, shedding about 25 percent this year.

"Our banking sector now is quite healthy. I think Bank Century's case is a stand-alone one," Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an economist at the Danareksa Research Institute, said.

"Even when the economy is in a good shape, companies may still fail," he said. "So this is not systemic."

For more stories on Indonesia's economy, please double click on [ID:nIDECONOMY].

For more stories on the latest news regarding the central bank, please double click on [ID:nIDCENBANK]. ($1 = 12,200 rupiah) (Writing by Tyagita Silka; Editing by Ed Davies)