Durian. Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Feb.1 officially launched Indonesia’s sharia bank namely Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) as the result from merger of three state-run sharia banks – Bank Syariah Mandiri, BRI Syariah and BNI Syariah.
The launching ceremony was conducted virtual considering health safety during pandemic covid-19.
“It has been long that we’re known as the country with largest Muslim population in the world. The status becomes one of global identities of Indonesia. Therefore, it’s usual for Indonesia to become one of prominent countries in developing sharia economy,” President Widodo said in Jakarta.
The merger itself aimed to bring Indonesia sharia banking to the top list in the world.
“Firstly, Bank Syariah Indonesia must truly become a universal sharia bank. It means, it should be opened, inclusive, welcome everybody who wants to be customers,” President Widodo said.
Indonesia’s sharia banking records annual growth from assets aspect of 10.97 percent, higher than conventional baking of 7.7 percent.
According to the State of Global Islamic Economy, sharia economy sector in Indonesia experienced significant growth annually. In 2018, Indonesia’s economy sharia was at rank 10th globally, but only a year after, has climbed to rank 5th and in 2020 to rank 4th.
Though the bank is based on sharia economy and finance system but it’s opened for non-Muslims as customers.
The state leader expects BSI can maximize the use of digital technology for its operational services. According to Indonesia’s 2020 population census, the number of millennial group is 25.87 percent from total 270 million people.
“Bank Syariah Indonesia is committed to become a banking institution that can serve all lines in the society, becoming a modern bank, inclusive and serving all people by upholding sharia principles,” Hery Gunadi, CEO of BSI said.
The bank is listed at Indonesia’s Stock Exchange as BRIS which Bank Mandiri has majority stake of 51 percent, followed by Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) of 25 and 17.4 percent respectively. The rest of the share public 4.4 percent and sharia shares at DPLK BRI as much as 2 percent.
