BTN Affirms Never Provide Products With Interest 10 Percent Per Month

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk or BTN confirmed that banks have never provided deposit products with an interest rate of 10 percent per month or 120 percent per year.

"I have to underline that there are no savings or deposit products whose interest is 10 percent per month. That is the first thing we must understand together to be used as education to the public," said Director of Operations and Customer Experience BTN Hakim Putrantama at the BTN Headquarters, Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, May 8, responding to cases of a number of customers claiming their funds were lost at BTN of up to Rp7.5 billion.

Based on information on the BTN website page, interest rates for rupiah retail BTN deposit products offered to customers, ranging from 2.35 percent to 3.40 percent per year according to the set balance strata. The amount of the deposit interest rate is effective from June 9, 2023. Meanwhile, the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) sets the rupiah deposit guarantee interest rate at the commercial bank at the level of 4.25 percent. The highest guaranteed value of LPS is IDR 2 billion per customer per bank with the condition of "3T", namely recorded in bank bookkeeping, the interest rate of deposits received by customers does not exceed the rate of interest set by LPS, and does not commit a crime that is detrimental to the bank. Regarding the case of a number of customers who are rolling, BTN confirms that it respects the legal process and opens room for related customers to take legal steps so that all decisions taken are based on applicable law.

Previously on April 29 and 30, 2024, a number of customers held demonstrations in front of the BTN Headquarters, Jakarta. In a video circulating on platform X, a number of customers had a chance to argue with BTN management. Demonstrations even led to anarchy. BTN also regretted the action because it damaged the BTN office environment and disrupted the comfort of public spaces for customers and employees. The demonstration also made fear and closed the access road in and out of the building. The cases of a number of customers claiming their funds were lost began when they placed funds in BTN through former company personnel.

BTN's attorney, Roni, explained that the opening of accounts by former BTN employees was not carried out in accordance with applicable procedures. Customers are even promised deposit products with interest of 10 percent per month. After opening customer accounts, ex-BTN employees do not provide official documents as generally, such as savings books or ATM cards, to customers so that it is strongly suspected that all the customer data collected was used by these individuals, including sending customer funds to ex-employment personal accounts.

Regarding the former employee case, BTN has actually proactively reported ASW and SCP individuals who are former company employees to Polda Metro Jaya since February 6, 2023. The report is related to criminal acts of fraud and embezzlement and forgery. The two individuals have also been named as suspects.

"Lalu terkait sekarang bank BTN dilaporkan kembali, ini pemahaman hukumnya sebenarnya adalah sama dengan laporan yang terdahulu. Sehingga dari kacamata hukum, ini adalah melanggar prinsip ne bis in idem namanya. Dua kali perkara yang sama diperiksa," jelas Roni.Sementara itu, Hakim juga menegaskan bahwa nasabah semestinya wajib hadir pada saat pembukaan rekening. Nasabah juga memiliki hak untuk mendapatkan dokumen-dokumen resmi setelah pembukaan rekening.

As a precautionary and mitigation measure so that similar incidents do not occur in the future, the judge said that BTN would complete customer account opening procedures using fraud detection system technology.

"We are also of course responsible for anything related to our customers, but in this case we also need a legal decision regarding what action we must take against the current case," said the judge.