UPDATE 1-Indonesia BCA's 9-mth net profit up 19 pct yr/yr

Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:55am EDT
 
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JAKARTA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia's second-largest lender, PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BBCA.JK), on Wednesday reported a 19 percent rise in nine-month net profit thanks to strong loan growth and steady net interest margins.

The largest non-state bank said lending grew by 53.3 percent from a year ago, faster than the overall industry growth of 36 percent.

BCA, which has a market capitalisation of $4.6 billion, reported net interest margin of 6.3 percent as of September, up from 6.0 percent in the previous quarter.

Net profit for January-September rose to 4.0 trillion rupiah ($374 million) from 3.36 trillion rupiah a year ago, while net interest income climbed 20.6 percent to 8.553 trillion rupiah.

Bank lending in Southeast Asia's biggest economy increased rapidly earlier this year, spurred by low interest rates and strong growth in the plantation and mining sectors.

But loan growth has outstripped deposit growth, squeezing liquidity in the financial markets and pushing up interest rates. Bank Indonesia, the central bank, has raised its benchmark interest rate BIPG by 150 basis points to 9.50 percent so far this year.

BCA shares rose 8.64 percent on Wednesday, beating the Indonesia Composite Index .JKSE gain of 0.2 percent. The bank announced its nine-month results after the market close. ($1 = 10,700 rupiah) (Reporting by Andreas Ismar; Writing by Harry Suhartono; Editing by Sara Webb)

 
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