Out of the many bankers in this country Maryono is one who cannot be underestimated or ignored as he has succeeded in turning Bank Mutiara into a major bank. In view of the background of the establishment of this bank many people did not think that the former Bank Century would become a major bank. Before being taken over by the Institute for Guaranteeing Deposits (LSP) the bank was called Bank Century.
Based on its progress Bank Mutiara’s performance continues to improve. In the first quarter of this year Bank Mutiara earned a profit of Rp 40.2 billion. Its assets at the end of March 2011 amounted to Rp 11.658 trillion, a growth of 41.43 percent compared to the figures in the previous year: Rp 8.243 trillion. These assets have automatically positioned Bank Mutiara in the ranking of major banks with assets of 10 trillion and above. Meanwhile the bank has given out loans totaling Rp 7.257 trillion as per March 2011.
When interviewed recently at his office located at International Financial Center Building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Maryono explained one of his strategies in creating the growth and progress of Bank Mutiara, that is, transforming or revamping the bank in its corporate culture, system as well as IT.
Referring to corporate culture he changed the attitude of the human resources and made them self confident, a solid team and a fostered a positive working spirit. Maryono is fully aware that the bank’s human resources have an important contribution in its successful performance.
During the changes in corporate culture Maryono did not adopt external values; on the contrary he garnered inputs from the employees and loyal customers which were then combined and formulated into the bank’s own corporate culture. According to him had he adopted values from other banks or companies there could be rejection, while internal values are accepted more easily. For the system he changed all internal regulations, standard operating procedure, authorization and work system to create a better integrated system. “However, all this is not enough because for Bank Mutiara to become a healthy bank it has to be fully supported by an excellent IT infrastructure and stronger internal control,” he added.
Maryono is also very much aware that banking in Indonesia is one of the fastest growing industries and that Bank Mutiara has to compete with local as well as foreign banks. However, he has no doubts and feels very confident that Bank Mutiara is capable of facing such competition. “We have reliable manpower and their attitude and service have passed the test,” he said.
Apart from enhancing the quality of the bank’s human resources the market segments are also deciding factors. Bank Mutiara focuses on the retail segment because there are big opportunities here. “We are concentrating on small and medium sized businesses; we call it a combination of UMKM segments,” said Maryono, who graduated from Diponegoro University, Semarang, Central Java with a degree in economics.
The reason for focusing on micro, small and medium sized enterprises (UMKM) is its rapid development and growth in Indonesia and its resilience against turbulent economic changes. Micro businesses can provide a good margin to banks. For loans Bank Mutiara is creating a loan product called Loan without Collateral (KTA), Home Loan or Financing (KPR) that is quite different from other banks’ KPR products. For KTA Bank Mutiara will collaborate with various major companies. The bank is attracted to KTA because it is an excellent mass product which can produce a good margin. Maryono explained that banking is a business based on trust.
So however strong the bank’s performance may be it will be difficult to transform it into a major bank once the image is tarnished. The key to a bank’s success, he said, also lies in its image. And, Maryono has succeeded in maintaining the bank’s image after Bank Century’s collapse and deteriorating reputation. Many customers have maintained their trust in the bank and he even managed to retain 60 percent of the customers who initially wanted to withdraw their money from the bank.
With various innovations he feels optimistic that by the end of 2011 the total third parties’ funds at Bank Mutiara will reach Rp 10.8 trillion, which means a growth of 21 percent compared to the previous year’s figure of Rp 8.9 trillion. The customers’ savings accounts will also grow by 100 percent, from Rp 378.6 billion to Rp 756 billion.
As of May 2011 Bank Mutiara has served 48,583 customers’ accounts and the total third parties’ funds entrusted with Bank Mutiara reached Rp 10.141 trillion. “All these figures show that our customers keep increasing and Bank Mutiara is now enjoying more trust from the public,” said Maryono, who is an avid golfer.
On top of everything Bank Mutiara always does its best to be close to its customers by opening more branches in various regions. On June 15, 2011, for example Bank Mutiara opened a branch on Jl. Tebet Raya No. 26 D, South Jakarta. Maryono, who was formerly Head of District One for Bank Mandiri in Medan, the opening of many branches is part of Bank Mutiara’s strategic plan in contributing to Jakarta’s economy by maximizing the bank’s intermediary function in collecting funds and providing loan facilities.
In the near future Bank Mutiara plans to launch Internet banking as well as join the 21,000 ATM Prima network. Bank Mutiara also has its own ATM network and its ATM cards can be used to withdraw cash or make other transactions at 17,000 locations with ATM bersama. “This means that our customers can use Bank Mutiara’s ATM cards everywhere for convenient cash withdrawal or other transactions,” he explained.
When asked about his first step when he was appointed to manage Bank Mutiara, Maryono replied: cut off or replacement of old management with a new one, because the previous management of Bank Century left a negative legacy, including the assets and the people.
Maryono’s achievement in overcoming Bank Century’s crisis is closely related to his career experience. His first career as a banker was at Bank Bapindo. During the emergence of golden key problem associated with Edy Tansil, a notorious big-time fugitive, still on the wanted list by the country’s police force, Bapindo later got into a merger with a number of banks to become Bank Mandiri. Here, he also handled a crisis that cropped up due to the replacement of the bank’s president director. He had to consolidate all Bank Mandiri’s branches throughout Indonesia. He also had to tackle a major demonstration by the employees. All these experiences in handling such a crisis became very useful when he was appointed president director of Bank Mutiara. (Satria Rangga Fausta)
The Jakarta Post, August 13, 2011
