State-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) managed to reduce the cost of funds to the lowest point in history as the company successfully transformed its liability structure.

At the end of September 2021, BRI’s cost of funds had reached 2.14 percent, an improvement from 3.45 percent recorded during the corresponding period last year.

“I need to convey that BRI’s cost of funds reached 2.14 percent, which was the lowest in history,” President Director of BRI, Sunarso, noted in his official statement here on Monday.

Sunarso expounded that the decrease in the cost of funds was inseparable from the company’s success in increasing the Current Account Saving Account (CASA), which was recorded at Rp673.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2021, rising about 5.3 percent from the corresponding period in 2020 when it had reached Rp639.2 trillion.

Furthermore, during the third quarter of 2021, BRI’s savings had reached Rp467.7 trillion while its current account amounted to Rp205.5 trillion, up from Rp424 trillion and Rp215 trillion respectively during the corresponding period last year.

The total third-party funds recorded by BRI until September 2021 had reached Rp1,121 trillion, or up about 5.5 percent from the same period in 2020 at Rp1,062.7 trillion.

According to Sunarso, the decrease in the cost of funds was closely related to BRI’s efficiency of funding costs through strategic transformation measures, such as strengthening retail payments and banking transactions.

“It is because of BRI’s successful efficiency in funding costs through various transformative programs, such as improving retail payments, banking transactions, and other initiatives related to payments,” he expounded.

The president director of BRI affirmed that the improvement in cost of funds had driven the performance of Net Interest Income (NII) that grew significantly, from 26.88 percent to reach Rp72.43 trillion in the third quarter of 2021.

Source: Antara News