RI Must Have Large Shariah Bank: OJK

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia must have a large-scale shariah bank to accommodate a vast amount of funds to spur its economic growth, according to the Financial Service Authority (OJK).

"There must be a large shariah bank. Of course, it must be a state-owned bank. It is difficult for a small bank to receive large amount of funds," head of the OJK shariah banking department Ahmad Buchori stated at a press briefing here on Thursday.

The state enterprises ministry has hinted that a plan to merge state-owned shariah banks may fail. Instead, the ministry prefers the option of finding strategic partners.

The four state-run shariah banks assigned to find strategic partners are BNI Syariah, BRI Syariah, Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), and a shariah business unit of Bank BTN.

"It is up to the state enterprises ministry to merge them or find strategic partners. What is important is that it can increase the scale of shariah banks," he affirmed.

According to the OJK, the shariah banking industry held a 4.87 percent share of the total market at the end of 2015, falling short of the target of five percent.

Buchori said as a regulator, the OJK will continue to control and supervise the banking industry, particularly the shariah financial companies.

The OJK will continue to accommodate the needs of the industrial sector while concurrently adopting prudential principles.

"We are optimistic the market share of (the shariah banking) will exceed five percent this year," he added.(WDY)