REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BOGOR - Indonesian banking is far behind banks in other ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippine, Bank Indonesia (BI) states. "Indonesian banks grow significantly, but there are only four Indonesian general banks which are in the big 20 in ASEAN," the Deputy Governor of BI, Halim Alamsyah, said on Monday.

BI's data on December 31 in 2011 shows that the first and second rank out of 20 in ASEAN, seeing from its total asset, capital, and credit, is Singaporean bank. The third until the fifth are from Malaysia, and then followed by Thailand. Indonesia's bank, which is Bank Mandiri, sits on number nine while BRI in eleventh. Meanwhile, BCA and BNI are number 14 and 15.

Alamsyah said it was caused by the lack of efficiency, as seen from the ratio of operational cost to operational income ratio (BOPO), which was far behind Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. Recorded in April 2012, the Indonesia's ratio is on 76.7 percent. It is outnumbered by Philippine in 79.6 percent.

The high cost of funds cause the inefficiency in banking sector. It was also caused by the high operational cost, especially in labor cost and costs of goods and service, he added.

Until the end of 2011, BI records that the labor cost reaches 1.29 percent from the total of banking asset, while the costs of goods and service reach 0.54 percent from the asset.

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