JAKARTA.  The government has responded positively to the plan by state-owned Bank Mandiri, the largest bank by assets in Indonesia, to acquire PT Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN).

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said that the acquisition would position the Indonesian bank as one of the top three in ASEAN, beating neighboring Malaysia.

"From our point of view, if BTN and Mandiri merge, Indonesia will have a bank that is larger than Malaysia’s banks," Dahlan said in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

Bank Mandiri is worth Rp 733.1 trillion (US$64.51 billion) while BTN is worth Rp 131.17 trillion.

He said that Indonesia had never ranked in the ASEAN top three banks as they were always dominated by banks from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

He said that the scheme to make BTN a Mandiri subsidiary was currently being discussed in the ministry.

The minister said that he was ready to face every process including getting approval from the House of Representatives.

In addition, he said that the merger of BTN and Mandiri would help BTN to supply 1.5 million new homes in Indonesia.

"BTN will have a great capacity to meet the demand for homes in Indonesia." (nfo)

Editor: Asnil Amri