This is BTN's Strategy to Distribute Housing Loans for the Community

President Director of Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), Nixon LP Napitupulu. (Photo: BTN Doc)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk (BTN) as a red plate bank that focuses on housing financing has disbursed housing financing loans (KPR) of 6 million units for people in the 3rd desil category.

As is known, Desil 3 is a classification of community groups that are in the 21st to 30th percentile of the lowest level of welfare nationally. In the government assistance program, Desil 3 is categorized as a group of almost poor people.

"If the 3 kpr subsidy desil in BTN there are 6 million houses from the beginning of the program," said the President Director of Bank Tabungan Negara, Nixon LP Napitupulu, at the Jogja Financial Festifal event at the Jogja Expo Centar (JEC) Yogyakarta Saturday, May 23.

According to Nixon, BBTN in allocating housing loans, there are two main strategies, namely, through the subsidized mortgage program, and through assistance for the construction of self-help houses for people with the lowest income. The subsidized mortgage program is designed for people with a maximum income limit so that it is targeted to the MBR group. Meanwhile, for people in desil 1 and 2 who are considered not yet able to access banking loans, the government distributes the Self-Help Housing Stimulus Assistance (BSPS).

"KPR is certainly assisted by the government. The government makes a subsidized KPR program that is limited to the maximum income. This means that it is indeed targeting low-income people because there are many unbanked. If there are 10 desil, then it can be said that the most difficult is desil 1-2 while desil 3-8 is intervened by KPR," he explained.

This year, said Nixon, the BSPS program is said to target around 400 thousand households throughout Indonesia. "The 1-2 desil, the government issued BSPS assistance to start self-development so that the government gives 20-25 million this year, there are 400 thousand per household," he continued.

Nixon added that the current government is also studying a KPR tenor scheme of up to 40 years. This step is expected to expand access for low-income people to housing financing.

"Today the government is reviewing KPR up to 40 years, hopefully the 1-2 desil can be obtained. This is a way of penetrating MBR," he said.

Apart from financing houses, BTN also relies on digitization to reach people who have not been able to access bank financing. Nixon assessed that the penetration of mobile phones in Indonesia today is much higher than the ownership of bank accounts.

He gave an example, for more than 70 years BTN has distributed around 6 million mortgages. However, in less than three years, BTN's mobile banking users have reached around 5 million accounts.

"We are digitizing for banking. The penetration of HP is more than the penetration of accounts. BTN has more than 70 million KPR, 6 million mobile banking acc. According to me, the number of KPR is taken over by mobile users," he said.

"The penetration rate is now easier because mobile can be opened from home. That's how we access unbanked," he concluded.