0 BTN and Asuransi Jasa Latest Pair to Form Life Insurance Joint Venture

Mortgage lender Bank Tabungan Negara and insurance company Asuransi Jasa Indonesia are the latest state firms to announce a joint venture in the life insurance industry. “We are hoping to get the operational license next year. This plan has to be approved by the shareholders and regulators,” Maryono, president director of Bank Tabungan Negara, said in Jakarta on Monday. Maryono did not reveal the terms of the joint venture, including the amount of capital the relative shares of the participants. 

“Definitely we want to be a majority shareholder,” said Maryono, who was installed as the head of BTN early this year. Maryono was previously president director of Bank Mutiara . BTN focuses primarily on mortgage lending, while Asuransi Jasa (Jasindo) is a state insurer that has minority stakes in other insurers Allianz Utama and Tokuo Marine. Budi Tjahyono, president director of Jasindo, said the company is currently seeking to sell its minority stakes in those insurers but he did not disclose the terms of the stake sale. 

Several other Indonesian state lenders are acquiring insurers or setting up joint ventures to boost their businesses throughout Indonesia. Bank CIMB Niaga, the nation’s fifth-largest lender, is scouting the country’s financial market as it seeks to acquire a general insurer next year. The Jakarta-based lender, which is majority-controlled by Malaysia’s CIMB Group, has set aside Rp 100 billion ($10.3 million) to buy control of an insurance firm, Arwin Rasyid, the president director of the lender, said last year. 

Bank Mandiri, the country’s largest lender by assets, bought control of Asuransi Dharma Bangsa, a general insurer, for around Rp 60 billion in 2011. Mandiri holds 60 percent control of ADB, while the remainder is owned by AXA Mandiri, an insurance unit of the bank. Experts say few Indonesians have insurance, given the sector room to grow.

source : the jakarta globe