This is what an economist said about bringing Mandiri bankers to BNI

ILLUSTRATION. Customer service at Bank BNI Jakarta, (12/7). BNI was appointed as one of the perception banks that manage the repatriation fund of tax amnesty. Through the tax amnesty policy, funds that will enter Indonesia (repatriation) from abroad can reach IDR 1,000 t

Reporter: Dikky Setiawan | Editor: Dikky Setiawan

KONTAN.CO.ID –JAKARTA. The reshuffle of the management composition of PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (Persero) at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) last Wednesday (2/9) attracted public attention. This is because the government, through the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) as the shareholder of BNI, has massively overhauled BNI management.

It was noted that there were eight positions of BNI directors that were overhauled. Of that number, there are five new BNI directors who come from PT Bank Mandiri Tbk (Persero). The five new BNI directors from Bank Mandiri are Royke Tumilaar, who was appointed as the President Director of BNI to replace Herry Sidharta.

Then, there is Silvano Winston Rumantir, who was appointed as Director of Corporate Banking at BNI. In addition, there is Muhamad Iqbal who is trusted to hold the position of BNI’s MSME Business Director. There is also Novita Widya Anggraini who has the mandate as Director of Finance of BNI. Also, David Pirzada as Director of Risk Management of BNI.

Muhammad Doddy Arifianto, an economist from Bina Nusantara University (Binus) said that the entry of five Bank Mandiri bankers to the BNI board of directors must be viewed objectively.

Doddy confirmed, usually the leadership of state-owned banks is carried out in rotation between state-owned bankers. In placing the board of directors of a BUMN company, the government as a shareholder must carry out a strict selection process.

There is a selection team that considers someone worthy of being elected as a leader in a BUMN. Of course, said Doddy, the qualifications possessed by bankers from state-owned banks besides Mandiri were also included in the BNI management selection team pool.

This, starting from competence, skills, networks, insights, integrity, and so on became the main criteria selected by the team. “I am sure that these are the main considerations for the Minister of BUMN, who is also a professional businessman,” said Doddy to Kontan.co.id, Saturday (5/9).

Doddy added, the existence of Bank Mandiri bankers in a number of state-owned and private companies has actually existed for a long time. Since 2006, he said, a number of Bank Mandiri bankers have been used in various business entities as professionals.

In fact, many small banks are also led by former Bank Mandiri bankers. This means that Bank Mandiri bankers have long had the skills, capabilities and integrity to become leaders in an institution, both in banking and non-bank entities.

In fact, said Doddy, the integrity and capability are also owned by other state-owned bankers. “This is back in the hands of the bankers themselves. Incidentally, five Bank Mandiri bankers were indeed elected to be BNI directors. So why should we make a fuss?” added the former Director of the Risk Group for the Economy and Financial System of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS).

In addition, continued Doddy, a number of former Mandiri bankers who joined a number of state-owned companies also did not fully start their careers at Bank Mandiri. For example, Pahala Mansyuri, President Director of Bank BTN. Previously, Pahala had also worked as a consultant and later worked at Pertamina and Garuda Indonesia.

Several Mandiri bankers who have become high-ranking officials in government institutions, have also not purely worked at Bank Mandiri. They have only anchored at Bank Mandiri for a few years. Previously, they worked in private financial institutions.

Doddy gave an example of former Bank Mandiri bankers who now serve as Deputy Minister of BUMN, namely Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Kartika Wirjoatmodjo. “So, there should be no sentiment towards the institution where the former banker had a previous career. This rotation should have spurred other bankers to become big like Bank Mandiri bankers,” said Doddy.

BNI go global

Then, will the entry of Bank Mandiri bankers into BNI management materialize the government’s plan to bring BNI to go global? According to Doddy, there are several factors to achieve that goal.

First, the company’s business achievements do not just come from the leadership. Indeed, a leader who will drive future organizational goals. However, there is something even more important than that, namely, that all the people in the organization support or do not support the achievements proclaimed by their leaders.

Because, he said, the name of management only contains about 10-12 people. However, those who run the business entirely are human resources (HR) or employees in the company.

Second, whether or not the business strategy being implemented is innovative or able to compete with others. This is because banking is an industry where the competition is very tight.

Third, whether or not the management has taken proper business policies to achieve company profits. Of course, in this case the factor of luck or luck is also in carrying out business decisions.

So, if viewed from the managerial side of the Mandiri bankers who have joined BNI, Doddy is optimistic that the bank led by Royke Tumilaar can go further than its current position.

The reason is that apart from the big name of Bank Mandiri, Royke’s track record is believed to be able to win BNI the trust of the global world. “The profile of the new president director at BNI is a banker who has a career in the banking industry for more than 20 years. His ability is not in doubt,” said Doddy.

A similar opinion was conveyed by Piter Abdullah, Research Director of the Center on Reforma Economics. He assessed that management changes in state-owned companies are a common thing. As a shareholder, the government has the authority to overhaul the management structure of BUMN companies.

It’s just that, Piter reminded, making BNI to go global, is not easy. There are many challenges that must be overcome by national banks abroad. Understandably, banking is a business with regulatory requirements.

If entering another country, our bank must follow the regulatory rules of the destination country. In addition, in terms of system, domestic banking was deemed not operationally efficient.

“Our banking sector can indeed benefit greatly in Indonesia because it is supported by a unique policy system,” Piter told Kontan.co.id, Friday (4/9).

The difficulty of national banking in competing abroad is also due to the policy of interest rates in the country that are too high compared to other countries.

“With high interest rates, how do you want to compete with local banks abroad? This is one of the challenges faced by the new management of BNI in order to make it go global,” concluded Piter.