Bank Central Asia's margin falls in Q1 as wholesale competition weighs

The bank is implied to be sitting on excess liquidity, said UOB Kay Hian.

Bank Central Asia (BCA) saw its net interest margin (NIM) fall amidst wholesale competition and excess liquidity.

Its loan growth of 5.6% year-on-year (YoY) for Q1 2026 remained below BCA’s target of 8% to 10%. This implies that BCA is sitting on excess liquidity that was being deployed into lower-yielding placements, said UOB Kay Hian analyst Posmarito Pakpahan.

Loan yield was down 45 basis points (bp) during the quarter, due to heightened competition in the wholesale segments. BCA’s management maintains its NIM guidance of 5.4% to 5.6% for 2026.

BCA’s overall net profit growth of 3.8% YoY to IDR14.76 is in line with expectations, UOBKH said.