BCA says Q1 net profit up 4.4 pct

Bank Central Asia , Indonesia's No.3 lender, on Thursday said its first quarter 2011 net profit rose 4.4 percent, driven by loan growth that is seen slowing this year as competition heats up for quality assets.

The firm's first quarter net profit was 2.016 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($233.7 million), compared with 1.931 trillion rupiah in the same period a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.

BCA, controlled by the nation's wealthiest business empire the Djarum Group, has revised down its loan growth forecast to about 15 percent for 2011 as competition may shrink interest margins.

It reported first quarter 2011 net interest income of 3.847 trillion rupiah. That compared with net interest income of 2.95 trillion rupiah in the year-ago period.
Analysts' forecast BCA's 2011 net profit to rise 14 percent to 9.7 trillion rupiah, according to Thomson Reuters' StarmineEstimate. ($1 = 8627.5 Rupiah). Source: Reuters