News Update
Wednesday, 12 Jun 2024
Manado, 8 June 2024 – PT Bank JTrust Indonesia Tbk (J Trust Bank) attended the High Level Forum on the topic Blue Natural Capital organized by Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) and the Blue Institute on 7 – 9 June 2024 in the city of Manado, North Sulawesi.
The forum, which was opened by the Deputy Governor of North Sulawesi Province, Steven Kandouw, was attended by the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN, Satvinder Singh, Executive Director of CTI - CFF, Dr. Frank Griffin; The Seychelles President's Special Envoy for ASEAN, Nico Barito and Business Director Widjaja Hendra along with Commissioner, Nobuiku Chiba were also present representing J Trust Bank. This high level forum activity was held in order to interpret Coral Triangle Day which falls on June 9 2024.
The blue economy, or what is also known as the ocean economy, refers to the sustainable use of marine resources to improve the economy, improve people's lives and the health of marine ecosystems.
The blue economy is of course very dependent on the living conditions of the coral reef triangle as the epicenter of world marine biodiversity which covers the seas of 6 countries in the Asia Pacific region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.
The maritime domain is the main growth engine for the ASEAN economy. The fisheries, sea transportation and tourism sectors, and other sea-based economic activities contribute 15.5% of the region's gross domestic product (GDP) and support 18.2% of employment.
J Trust Bank Business Director, Widjaja Hendra said that J Trust Bank is ready to play an active role in supporting the blue economy ecosystem in Indonesia. J Trust Bank believes in the importance of building sustainable economic strength in the marine sector where the sea is the support of life for the earth and all living creatures in it.
In the panel session, J Trust Bank explained its readiness to provide micro-credit via indirect channels to ultra-micro business actors in the blue economy ecosystem through collaboration with third parties who will later assist J Trust Bank in distributing the credit.
To make this happen, on the same occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between J Trust Bank and the Blue Institute for 'Micro Financing to Coastal Fisheries Community Cooperatives' in partnership with PT Sinar Purefoods Internasional and PT Samudra Ulam Nusantara.
J Trust Bank is very enthusiastic about working on micro credit collaboration for business actors in the marine ecosystem, especially fishermen groups. Not only providing credit, J Trust Bank also shares roles in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs together with PT Sinar Purefoods Internasional and PT Samudra Ulam Nusantara.
As of December 2023, J Trust Bank recorded credit in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector of IDR 4.3 trillion or an increase of 56 percent from IDR 2.8 trillion in December 2022. Meanwhile, for Environmentally Friendly Business Activities (KUBL) credit, as of December 2023 J Trust Bank has distributed credit amounting to IDR 5.7 trillion or the equivalent of 24% of J Trust Bank's total credit portfolio.
