Bank Indonesia has told commercial banks to make plans to ensure all of their risk managers are certified by 2010.

"We're urging banks to set a target of how many employees can be certified a year," BI deputy governor Maman H. Somantri said Saturday.

Speaking at the opening of a risk management certification test held by the Risk Management Certification Agency (BSMR) at the Jakarta Fairground, he said all bank officials in charge of risk management should be certified by the end of 2010.

As many as 1,972 bank officials took part in Saturday's test. The first test was held in Jakarta on Dec. 17, 2005, with 1,675 participants, 73 percent of whom passed.

Of about 50,000 bankers throughout the country, only 1,400 have so far been certified by the Risk Management Certification Agency.

This year, the BSMR will hold 12 certification tests in Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Medan (North Sumatra).

The head of the BSMR's certification council, Gayatri Rawit Anggraeni, said this year the agency wanted to certify bankers in the first and the second levels.

"These levels involve bankers in risk taking units, risk management units, internal audit units and in compliance," said Gayatri, who is also vice chairperson of the Indonesia Risk Professional Association.

The central bank issued a regulation last August requiring all bank officials in charge of risk management to obtain certification. The requirement was issued following the closure of several banks, believed to have been caused mainly by poor risk awareness and a lack of good corporate governance.

"Those are the main problems for our banking sector," BI deputy governor Maman said.

He said the certification drive would let the public know which banks have good risk management and which do not.

"Risk managers who don't have certificates by the end of 2010 will ... have to be removed from their positions," he said, adding that it was hoped the regulation would help improve bankers' competence in terms of risk management.

He added that sanctions would be imposed on banks that did not comply with the certification requirement by the end of 2010.