Indonesia: Anatomy of a Banking Crisis Two Years of Living Dangerously 1997-99
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WP/01/52 IMFWorking Paper Indonesia: Anatomy of a Banking Crisis Two Years of Living Dangerously 1997-99 Charles Enoch, Barbara Baldwin, Olivier Frecaut, and Arto Kovanen INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND © 200 l InternationalMonetary Fund WP/01/52 IMF Working Paper Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department Indonesia: Anatomy of a Banking Crisis Two Years of Living Dangerously, 1997-99 Prepared by Charles Enoch, Barbara Baldwin, Olivier Frecaut, and Arto Kovanen May 2001 Abstract The views expressed in this WorkingPaper are those of the author(s)and do not necessarily representthose of the IMF or IMF policy. WorkingPapers describe research in progressby the authorfs~and are nublishedto elicit commentsand to furtherdebate. This study looks at the first two years of the banking crisis that erupted in Indonesia in late 1997. It finds that the banking sector was weak at the outset, and that governance problems intensified the crisis and seriously delayed its resolution. Although a strategy was put in place over the initial months, protracted delays in implementation led to an explosion in the costs ofresolution. By end-1999, the critical elements to reconstruct the banking system were in place, and the political transition seemed completed; but, in a continuing unsettled environment, the new authorities still faced daunting challenges. JEL Classification Numbers: G21; G28; G34; N25; 053 Keywords: banking crisis, bank restructuring, blanket guarantee, lender of last resort, banking supervision Author's E-Mail Address: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]: [email protected] - 2 - Contents Page Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................. 5 List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 6 I. lntroduction ......................................................................................................................... 8 II. Strategic Overview of the Banking Crisis ........................................................................... 9 III. Banking Sector Developments: !988-1999 ..................................................................... 23 A. Phase I-1988-August-l 997: An Unbalanced Financial Sector Liberalization .... 23 The 1988 liberalization measures .................................................................. 23 The Bank Summa incident. ............................................................................ 23 Problems in the state-owned banks ................................................................ 24 Pre-crisis financial position of banks and corporations .................................. 25 B. Phase II: October-November 1997: Macroeconomic Disturbances and Contained Banking Difficulties ............................................................................. 26 Sample of banks selected for review .............................................................. 26 Objective of the individual assessments ........................................................ 27 Results of the individual assessments ............................................................ 28 October 31, 1997, policy package .................................................................. 29 C. Phase III: December 1997: The Banking Situation Gets Out of Control.. ............. 30 D. Phase IV: January-February 1998-Laying the Ground for the Stabilization of the Banking System .......................................................................................... 32 E. Phase V: March-May 1998-First Resolution lnitiatives and New Shock ............ 33 F. Phase VI-June-September 1998: Design of a Comprehensive Resolution Strategy ................................................................................................................. 35 G. Phase VII-October 1998-December 1999: Slow and Uneven Implementation Leads to a Sharp lncrease in Costs ....................................................................... 38 Private banks ................................................................................................. 38 IBRA and the IBRA banks ............................................................................ 39 State banks ..................................................................................................... 40 IV. Selected Issues ................................................................................................................ 41 A. Blanket Guarantee and Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) ........................................ 41 The blanket guarantee .................................................................................... 42 The provision of central bank liquidity .......................................................... 4 7 B. Private Bank Recapitalization Scheme ................................................................. 50 Preparation of the plan ................................................................................... 51 Implementation of the plan ............................................................................ 54 C. Reform of the State Banks .................................................................................... 59 - 3 - D. Prudential and Supervisory Reforms: Strengthening the Financial Sector through Improved Oversight ................................................................................ 63 Introduction ................................................................................................... 63 The regulatory framework ............................................................................. 64 Classification and loan loss provisioning requirements ................................. 64 Off-balance-sheet activities ........................................................................... 72 Enhancing Bank Indonesia's supervisory capacity ........................................ 73 E. Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (!BRA) ................................................... 75 Operations of !BRA in 1998 .......................................................................... 75 The next stage: legal powers and shareholder settlements ............................. 77 Operations of !BRA in 1999 .......................................................................... 79 Some !BRA issues ......................................................................................... 80 F. Corporate Restructuring ........................................................................................ 83 G. The Proposal for a Currency Board Arrangement.. ............................................... 84 H. Establishing Monetary Control ............................................................................. 86 Developing market-based monetary instruments ........................................... 89 I. Interbank Market Segmentation and Liquidity Squeeze ......................................... 93 Market segmentation and the flow of funds in late 1997 ............................... 93 A key problem: lack of capacity to intermediate ........................................... 95 J. The Structure of Interest Rates ............................................................................... 97 Interest rate spreads ....................................................................................... 97 Early crisis phase: Explosion of intermediation spreads ................................ 98 Impact on lending ........................................................................................ I 03 K. Government Domestic Bond Market .................................................................. I 06 Developing a secondary market for government bonds ............................... I 06 The rise in domestic government debt.. ....................................................... I 06 Secondary market trading ............................................................................ I 07 Regulatory framework ................................................................................. I 08 L. Governance ......................................................................................................... I 08 Closure of the sixteen banks ........................................................................ I 09 Bank Indonesia ............................................................................................ I 09 IBRA ........................................................................................................... 110 Private bank recapitalization scheme ........................................................... 112 The state banks ............................................................................................ 112 Bank Bali ..................................................................................................... 113 V. Final Observations ......................................................................................................... 115 A. General ............................................................................................................... 115 B. Handling the Crisis ............................................................................................. 116 C. Moral Hazard ...................................................................................................... 118 D. Costs and Government Responsibility ................................................................ 118 E. Concluding