Under this MoU, Bank BTN will work together with Sampoerna Foundation to carry out the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program through the provision of scholarships to high school students with good academic standings whose parents have home owner’s loans with Bank BTN. Bank BTN will provide the scholarship funds and Sampoerna Foundation will manage the disbursement of the scholarships to the students. Siswanto, Director of Bank BTN, greeted this cooperation positively. According to him, now is the right moment for this cooperation because the government is encouraging the business to sector to exercise its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs as fully as possible. However, due to network and system constraints, Bank BTN has chosen to link up with Sampoerna Foundation in order to implement the Bank BTN CSR program. This is not the first time that we have undertaken such activities. Bank BTN has long shown its concern to the community and the environment, even before establishing its current CSR program.

Community assistance programs are clearly listed in the fifth point of Bank BTN’s mission statement. The vision and mission of Bank BTN was formally set into place by its management in 2000, but has always been concerned about the community and the environment, Siswanto emphasized. This can be seen in its routine provision of scholarships to orphans and assistance in the reconstruction of schools damaged in earthquakes, as well as assistance to flood and tsunami victims, and its re-greening programs in Kemayoran, Puncak, Semarang and, along with the many other social welfare activities carried out in celebration of BTN’s anniversary each year.

Besides scholarships, for is 2007 CSR program, Bank BTN is also focusing on improving environmental infrastructure, such as waterways and street lighting, in the Greater Jakarta Area. Pilot projects are being undertaken in 3 areas, Depok, Ciputat and Bogor, with the hope that this and other Bank BTN programs can be expanded to areas throughout Indonesia in order to benefit as many people as possible. For this reason, Bank BTN has invited Sampoerna Foundation to assist in distributing its scholarship funds to children of people with home owner loans at the bank; hopefully this will help the children to do consistently well in school. This year, Bank BTN has prepared assistance for 500 children. It is expected that this program will instill a stronger desire to learn and achieve among the children of Indonesia, as well as concretely expressing the concern and commitment of BANK BTN toward the public at large and toward its home owner loan clients in particular, Siswanto emphasized.

Based on data for the period of 1976 through September 17, 2007, Bank BTN has provided loans totaling Rp.52.1 trillion to 2,546,403 clients. Of this amount, Rp.19.2 trillion has gone for purchases of 1,902,417 units of subsidized housing, While in 2007 alone, of the set credit target of Rp.7.4 trillion for the entire year, by September 17, the bank had achieved Rp.4.9 trillion. Of this amount, Rp.2.3 trillion had been channeled into loans for 62,536 subsidized housing units.