Indonesia’s rapidly growing Islamic banking eyes global partners
Indonesia, is seen as a highly potential and growing market for Islamic banking and finance industry. Enjoying fast growth of an average of 34 percent during the last five years, the country’s Islamic banking and finance, better known as “iB finance”, is now eyeing partnerships with financial institutions with global coverage, to build strong grounds to become the hub of iB finance in Asia. A recent seminar on iB finance jointly organized by Bank Indonesia (BI), UK Trade and Investments, and HSBC Amanah, reveals that Indonesian iB finance continues to show strong performance. The business volume has reached over US$7.4 billion, though it only accounts for a 2.7 percent share of the national banking industry.
In his opening address at the seminar titled “Sharing Experiences of Indonesia-UK in Developing Islamic Finance”, BI deputy governor Muliaman Hadad said the central bank had developed the Islamic banking sector to support a sustainable economy and social prosperity, by promoting a market-based system as well as prudent banking practices. The Islamic banks are encouraged to always improve their performance and service while maintaining compliance to sharia principles. (more…)
