BI Disinyalir Ubah PBI Demi Selamatkan Bank Century

Jakarta - Bank Indonesia (BI) dan Komite Stabilitas Sistem Keuangan (KSSK) disinyalir telah melakukan penyalahgunaan wewenang dan kesalahan penilaian dalam penyelamatan PT Bank Century (Century) yang menghabiskan dana hingga Rp 6,7 triliun.

Hal tersebut tertuang dalam evaluasi hasil laporan audit interim Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan (BPK) oleh Komisi XI DPR-RI di Gedung DPR/MPR, Senayan, Jakarta, Rabu (30/9/2009) malam.

Dalam paparan Komisi XI dijelaskan, BI memberikan fasilitas pendanaan jangka pendek (FPJP) sebesar Rp 632 miliar kepada Bank Century namun dilakukan disaat Bank Century memiliki Rasio Kecukupan Modal (CAR) yang rendah.

"Hal ini dilakukan BI dengan sebelumnya mengubah Peraturan Bank Indonesia (PBI) tentang CAR dimana ada perubahan syarat kepada yang mendapatkan FPJP. Sebelum dikeluarkannya PBI ini, FPJP diberikan kepada Bank yang memiliki CAR 8 persen namun diganti melalui PBI ini, yang mendapat FPJP yakni bank dengan CAR positif saja," papar Anggota Komisi XI, Drajad Wibowo di Gedung DPR-RI, Jakarta, Selasa (29/09/2009) malam.

Drajad melanjutkan, hal ini menunjukan ada indikasi perubahan PBI ini semata hanya untuk 'menggolkan' pengucuran FPJP kepada Bank Century sehingga BI merubah ketentuan permodalan.

Selain itu, kesalahan penilaian terjadi pada saat dilakukan bailout yang memakan dana hingga Rp 6,7 triliun dari perkiraan awal yang hanya senilai Rp 632 miliar.

"KSSK telah menyetujui begitu saja penyertaan modal sementara (PMS) oleh Lembaga Penjamin Simpanan (LPS) hingga mencapai Rp 6,7 triliun. Padahal sebelumnya diperkirakan hanya Rp 632 miliar. Hal ini indikasinya kepada kesalahan penilaian," papar Drajad.

Ditempat yang sama Ketua Komisi XI, Ahmada Hafiz Zawawi juga perubahan peraturan PBI yang mengubah ketentuan CAR seharusnya ada konsultasi dengan DPR.

"Kita tidak pernah ada rapat dengan BI, kalau ada perubahan tentang PBI yang bersifat stategis dan berdampak luas seharusnya ada konsultasi dengan DPR. Ini sepertinya ada hal yang mengindikasikan perubahan PBI no 10 tersebut tentang CAR, dilakukan khusus hanya agar Century bisa mendapatkan fasilitas FPJP," tandasnya.

Ia juga menegaskan kesalahan penilaian tersebut menyebabkan kerusakan Bank Century selanjutnya dianggal sistemik.

"Kalau tadi tidak terdapat kesalahan penilaian maka tidak akan terjadi pengeluaran sebanyak ini, yang dilakukan oleh LPS melalui pemberian modal sementara," jelasnya.

Drop in consumer confidence weighs on stocks

NEW YORK (AP) -- A surprise drop in consumer confidence tripped up investors Tuesday, a day after a round of corporate takeovers set off a steep market rally.

Stocks slid after the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell in September. Economists had been expecting a reading of 57; instead it came in at 53.1.

The private research group said consumers are still worried about losing their jobs. Many analysts warn a turnaround in the economy won't hold if consumers don't start picking up spending and employers add jobs.

The report offset early enthusiasm over an increase in home prices.

Stocks broke a three-day losing streak Monday after news of several big acquisitions signaled to investors that corporate America is feeling more confident about the economy and willing to take on more risk through mergers and acquisitions.

"You had these M&A deals make people feel better about growth prospects and valuations," said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research and senior equity index analyst at MF Global. "We don't have any followthrough M&A today and the market really lacks a forward catalyst."

With economic reports still mixed, some investors are hesitant to keep buying and extend the market's nearly seven-month advance, or at least keep it going at the same fervid pace. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index has gained 56.8 percent since hitting a 12-year low in March.

"Stock have been moving aggressively up," said Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Clover Investment Advisors. "It's natural for investors to want to lock in some of those gains as we end the quarter."

The Dow Jones industrials fell 47.16, or 0.5 percent, to 9,742.20, chipping away part of Monday's 124-point gain. The S&P 500 index slipped 2.38, or 0.2 percent, to 1,060.60, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.70, or 0.3 percent, to 2,124.04.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.77, or 0.5 percent, to 610.45.

Falling stocks narrowly outpaced those that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5 billion shares, compared with 3.8 billion Monday when trading was light because of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

Stocks jumped Monday as news of large takeovers by Xerox Corp. and Abbott Laboratories brought hope that corporate dealmaking could be making a comeback. That would be a sign that borrowing is getting easier and that companies expect the economy to improve.

Analysts have been saying that some retreat in stocks will help the market avoid getting overheated. But so far, breaks in the advance have been mild and brief, as investors look for opportunities to buy into the market.

"There hasn't been any followthrough on those down days," said Howard Ward, portfolio manager at GAMCO Growth Fund, whose portfolio is concentrated in areas most sensitive to the economy, including technology, energy and financial stocks.

The market could have trouble resuming its advance if economic reports don't boost optimism. Despite better signs on manufacturing and home sales, unemployment stands at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent. Investors will get the latest news on employment Friday when the Labor Department releases its monthly jobs report, one of the most closely watched economic reports.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities provided the latest encouraging sign for the housing market. The index rose 1.2 percent in July from June. Home prices are still 13.3 percent below July a year ago, but the annual drops have slowed in all 20 cities for the past six months.

Energy stocks slid as oil lost ground amid worries that the economy won't be strong enough to lift demand as much as expected. Oil had been steadily rising in recent months on expectations that the economy was going to be stronger, therefore pushing demand higher.

Crude fell 13 cents to settle at $66.71 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other trading, bond prices mostly fell after five days of gains. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.29 percent from 3.28 percent late Monday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold edged higher.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 0.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 slipped 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.9 percent.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1430 H

Sejalan dengan berlalunya Ramadhan tahun ini
Kemenangan akan kita gapai
Dalam kerendahan hati ada ketinggian budi
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Hidup ini indah jika segala karena ALLAH SWT
Kami Salmadinar menghaturkan
Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1430 H
Taqobalallahu minna wa minkum
Mohon maaf lahir dan bathin

China pushes silver and gold investment to the masses

A report suggests that the Chinese government is pushing the general public into buying gold and silver bullion, which could have a dramatic effect on the markets.

- LONDON -

We are indebted again to Paul Mylchreest's Thunder Road Report for news that will bring big smiles to gold and silver investors everywhere. Apparently China is pushing the idea of buying gold and silver for investment purposes to the general population in the way that Western television sells soap powder. If 1.3 billion Chinese citizens start buying gold and silver, even in tiny quantities, imagine what that will do to the market!

The report notes that China's Central Television, the main state-owned television company, has run a news programme letting the public know how easy it is to buy precious metals as an investment. On silver investment the announcer is quoted as saying " China has introduced its first ever investment opportunity for silver bullion. The bars are available in 500g, 1kg, 2kg and 5kg with a purity of 99.9%. Figures show that gold was fifty times more expensive than silver in 2007, but now that figure has reached over seventy times. Analysts say that silver has been undervalued in recent years. They add that the metal is the right investment for individual investors and could be a good way to cash in."

What appears to have happened in China is a total relaxation of strictures on holding precious metals by the individual with the government pushing gold and silver as an investment option, seemingly at every opportunity. This is a far cry from the situation only a few years ago where the distribution of gold and silver was strictly controlled. Now, the Thunder Road Report notes that every bank will sell gold and silver bullion bars in four different sizes to individuals and gold related investments are said to be soaring in popularity.

Around a year ago, Leyshon Resources managing director, Paul Atherley, in an investor presentation in London - and no doubt delivered elsewhere in the world too - commented that some employees at the company's gold mining project in northern China would, on pay day, go to the local bank and buy a small gold bar as an investment and wealth protector. To an extent we put this down at the time to mining company hype - but this seems to be exactly the same phenomenon noted by Thunder Road. The Chinese are being converted from being the lowest per capita gold consumers in the world to a nation of small precious metals investors. Now, by next year, Chinese consumption of gold is likely to exceed that of India, which has been for years the world's biggest gold market. And one suspects that the potential for gold purchasing by individuals is only in its earliest stages. As more and more Chinese move into the cities and individual wealth grows, this trend is only likely to accelerate.

Paul ends the piece on Chinese gold and silver potential with the following comment: "Simply put, the Chinese government is trying to trigger a national gold craze...and it's working. The Chinese public now has gold trading platforms on steroids.... ...Also, for the first time in history, Chinese investors can even trade gold abroad (in London) with the swipe of a ‘Lucky Gold' card. I can't even get Bank of America to open a foreign currency account."

This may be an overstatement of the case from a precious metals bull - or it may not! Certainly if China is indeed pushing the public to buy gold then there may well be a hidden agenda here. It's unlikely they are doing it and will suddenly pull the rug out from under millions of investors. A cynic (or a raging gold bull) would suggest that this will precede a move to switch a good proportion of the country's reserves into gold which would have a huge effect on the global gold price and could prove disastrous for the dollar. Maybe it's not in China's interests to drive the dollar down too much until it has managed to divest itself of the huge dollar overhang (see the article on Chinese Sovereign Wealth Funds we published yesterday - Chinese sovereign wealth fund dumping dollars for strategic investments like gold ). The country may well already be, of course, surreptitiously building its gold reserves without reporting the build-up.

If the Chinese are indeed beginning to buy gold and silver as the quoted report suggests then this has to be a strong signal that prices are going to rise, and perhaps rise dramatically, in the relatively near future. We await comment from other China watchers for confirmation of the gold and silver buying spree, but with global gold production at best flat and probably in decline, even a small increase in Chinese buying could have a substantial impact on gold and silver prices.