BNI Pledges Full $1.76 Million Reimbursement After Rogue Manager’s Church Fund Heist

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BBNI), one of Indonesia's dominant "Big Four" state-controlled lenders, has formally pledged to fully reimburse the $1.76 million (Rp 28 billion) stolen from a North Sumatran church congregation. The move marks a definitive attempt by the bank to contain the reputational fallout from a years-long embezzlement scheme orchestrated by a former sub-branch manager.

The bank's decision to guarantee a full payout—rather than battling the victims in court—is a strategic move to preserve institutional trust in Indonesia’s state banking sector. By taking full responsibility for the actions of a rogue employee, BNI is signaling to global investors that it prioritizes compliance and "Social" criteria under its ESG commitments. This swift resolution also heads off potentially harsher sanctions from the OJK, the country’s financial regulator, which recently demanded a transparent cleanup of the scandal.

A Phased Legal Resolution

BNI intends to process the $1.76 million refund in stages, anchored by a formal legal agreement between the bank and the Aek Nabara Parish Credit Union (CU). This structured approach is designed to ensure that every dollar returned is accounted for and tied to the ongoing criminal investigation.

"The progress of the investigation provides clarity on the value of the losses, which serves as the foundation for BNI to complete the fund return in an accurate, measurable, and accountable manner," said Munadi Herlambang, BNI’s Director of Human Capital & Compliance, in a statement on Sunday, April 19. He added that the bank "did not remain silent" since the fraud was first detected by its own internal oversight systems in February.

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Separating Rogue Acts from System Integrity

Despite the massive scale of the theft, BNI is moving aggressively to reassure the market that its core banking infrastructure remains uncompromised. The bank reiterated that the "Deposito Investment" product offered by the suspect, Andi Hakim Febriansyah, was a fictitious vehicle that never existed on the bank’s official ledger.

Munadi emphasized that the fraud was a "purely individual act" carried out beyond official procedures. "We ensure that customer funds stored in official BNI products remain safe and are not impacted by this event," he stated, seeking to decouple the scandal from the bank's broader retail funding stability.

Hard Lessons in Financial Literacy

In the wake of the scandal, BNI executives are calling for a national boost in financial literacy to combat increasingly sophisticated "internal" scams. Rian Eriana Kaslan, BNI’s Director of Network & Retail Funding, warned the public to be wary of "unnatural" high-interest promises that deviate from standard banking practices.

The bank is now pushing customers toward its digital channels, such as the wondr by BNI app and official call centers, to verify the legitimacy of any investment offer. "BNI will continue to oversee this process until it is fully resolved, prioritizing the principles of prudence, transparency, and consumer protection," Rian concluded.