Bank MNC Owned By Conglomerate Hary Tanoesoedibjo Gives An Explanation To The Exchange Regarding Merger News With Bank Nobu

JAKARTA - A bank owned by conglomerate Hary Tanoesoedibjo, PT Bank MNC Internasional Tbk. (BABP) answered the news of the merger with PT Bank Nationalnobu Tbk. (NOBU) belongs to tycoon James Riady. BABP explained that the company will follow in the steps of the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

Quoted from the disclosure of information on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) website, Tuesday, April 23, MNC Bank Corporate Secretary Heru Sulistiadhi answered questions from the IDX regarding the merger process with Bank Nobu.

"The company complies with the provisions of the OJK. Regarding the merger, the most competent party to explain is the OJK," he said.

Heru explained that along with the news of the merger, there was no information, facts, other important events that were material and could affect bank share prices and survival that had not been disclosed to the public.

Previously, the Chief Executive of Banking Supervision Dian Ediana Rae explained that the merger of the two conglomerate-owned banks was still in progress, although it was slow. The planned merger of the two banks was revealed in early 2023.

OJK projects the merger to be completed in August 2023. However, until 2023 is over, the merger has not yet been completed.

The slow merger process is because both entities are part of a large conglomerate ecosystem. This makes business complexity even higher, as a result, these negotiations take a short time.

"And [this is also related] to the bank's future business development and synergy plan," he said in a written answer some time ago.

OJK will intensively monitor to ensure that the implementation of the merger commitments from the two banks can be carried out by always paying attention to its suitability with applicable regulations.

"As is known, the merger process is the initiative of the two banks, and then it becomes their commitment," said Dian.

Dian also said that the merger of the two banks became a point of no return, aka a fixed price in the consolidation of Indonesian banking. Where, the planned merger of the two banks is also a form of commitment from shareholders on a business to business (B2B) in order to support consolidation and strengthen the banking industry.

Previously, Bank Nobu had also answered regarding the planned merger. NOBU Corporate Secretary Mario Satrio said the synergy plan carried out with Bank MNC would have a positive impact on the company's performance.

"Every corporate action carried out by the company is in line with the Public Bank Consolidation POJK and aims to support the development of the company's long-term business volume in order to achieve sustainable growth," said Mario.