PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk. (BTN) has announced its intention to increase the dividend ratio to 25% for the fiscal year 2023, marking a significant rise from the dividend payout ratio (DPR) of 20% in the past two years.
Nixon L.P. Napitupulu, the President Director of BTN, stated that the decision on this year's dividend figure was reached through discussions with shareholders, including the government, and also with the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
According to Nixon, BTN aims to maintain the dividend ratio at 20% with the consideration of contributing to the country, at least at the same or higher level compared to the previous year.
"So, we are trying to keep it at 20%," said Nixon after the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) on Wednesday (6/3/2024).
Furthermore, BTN is also committed to maintaining its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at the level of 19%–20%. "We must not let it drop below the 19% level. We aim for 16%–19%," he added.
Looking ahead, BTN targets to increase the dividend ratio to 25% in the future. However, this decision will depend on the financial performance until the end of this year.
As per the information provided, BTN recorded a profit of Rp 3.5 trillion throughout 2023, marking a 14.94% year-on-year increase.
Based on BTN's financial report published in the media, the profit was mainly driven by a 9.2% year-on-year increase in net interest income to Rp 28.27 trillion in the period ending December 2023. However, the interest expense also surged by 36.31% year-on-year to Rp 20.05 trillion.
In terms of intermediation function, BTN disbursed loans amounting to Rp 296.58 trillion, representing an 11.25% year-on-year increase in 2023. Despite the growth, the credit quality remained stable with the net nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio decreasing to 3.01% from 3.38% in the previous year.
The loan growth also contributed to the increase in BTN's assets by 9.1% year-on-year to Rp 438.75 trillion from the period ending December 2022, which stood at Rp 302.15 trillion.