| Squabbling among Indonesia's politicians underlies financial chaos |
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Privatization in Indonesia is being delayed by chaos at its largest investment bank, Danareksa, where 60 bankers have taken voluntary retirement after nearly a year of political infighting. Insiders say the redundancies have stripped Danareksa of key expertise and experience needed to manage mandates to sell government assets.
Along with Bahana Securities, also government-owned, Danareksa has lead-managed virtually all sales of state assets over the past 10 years, normally in tandem with the major US investment banks. The staff problems emerged at the beginning of this year, when Glenn Yusuf, the former CEO, came to the end of his maximum five-year term.
Yusuf is a leading member of the younger professional group of brokers and bankers who emerged during the 1990s in Indonesia. He had built up Danareksa, formerly a staid, bureaucratic, government-owned mutual fund, into the best investment bank in the country, hiring dozens of foreign-trained graduates with international experience and piloting through many major IPOs.