Smaller Indonesian banks log best total returns in Q2

Smaller Indonesian lenders occupied top slots on the lists of best- and worst-performing Asia-Pacific bank stocks for the quarter ended June 30, as investors were attracted by the digital strategies announced by some, while a deadly wave COVID-19 swept over the archipelago nation of over 200 million people.

PT Bank Ina Perdana Tbk, PT Bank MNC Internasional Tbk and PT Bank Harda Internasional Tbk topped the list of the 15 best-performing Asia-Pacific bank stocks in the second quarter, with total returns of 251.74%, 245.00% and 188.39%, respectively, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. In total, Indonesian banks occupied five slots on the list.

Harry Su, head of equity capital markets at Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia, said the gains in the Indonesian banks' stock prices in the second quarter were driven by the lenders outlining their digital strategies to the market. The banks' digitalization strategies came at a time when the archipelago contends with its deadliest wave of the pandemic yet, with a record daily tally of 34,379 confirmed cases, according to official data released on July 7.

Japanese regional banks dominated the list of the 15 worst-performing Asia-Pacific bank stocks in the quarter, taking a total of 11 slots. The remaining four banks included Indonesia's PT Bank Bumi Arta Tbk, PT Bank Mayapada Internasional Tbk and PT Bank Pan Indonesia Tbk, which posted returns of negative 50.00%, negative 35.58% and negative 27.38%, respectively, and ranked first, second and fifth on the list. In addition, South Korea's Pureun Mutual Savings Bank Co. Ltd. posted negative 26.88% total returns in the quarter, according to Market Intelligence data.

In terms of bank indexes in Asia-Pacific, SNL Japan Bank remained as the worst-performing index with total negative returns of 5.98% during the second quarter. SNL Australia and New Zealand Bank emerged as the best-performing index with total returns of 8.4%, followed by SNL South Asia Bank with 6.6% and Southeast Asia Bank with 2.4%.