Jakarta: The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises and state-run Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) have committed to continuing efforts to help the country become a major player and producer in the global halal value chain.
“Indonesia, by taking advantage of the second-largest Muslim population, can become the center of the world’s halal industry,” said Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, the ministry’s deputy minister, during the opening of BSI International Expo 2024 in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said that the merger of three state sharia banks into BSI in 2021 was a concrete manifestation of the transformation carried out by the ministry.
Now, in its third year, BSI is showing impressive performance, one of which has been entering the ranks of the Top 10 Global Islamic Banks in terms of market capitalization, he added.
This is in line with the surge in the issuer’s share price, which pushed the company’s market cap to Rp131.47 trillion (around US$7.9 billion) on March 13.
In terms of financial performance, Wirjoatmodjo said that BSI was the only sharia bank in the top five banks in Indonesia, with total assets of Rp353.4 trillion and a net profit of Rp5.7 trillion in 2023.
BSI was also the largest zakat contributor in Indonesia, providing Rp222 billion in 2023.
In terms of expansion, BSI has opened an operational branch in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
It is currently in the process of opening a branch in Saudi Arabia to continue developing the potential of the Islamic ecosystem, especially the Hajj and Umrah services.
“Currently, BSI is always responsible for becoming an inclusive and modern sharia bank and serving all customer segments,” he said.
Wirjoatmodjo added that the sharia bank also served more than 20 million customers, or increased by more than 6 million customers since the merger.
The figure makes BSI the bank with the fifth-largest number of customers in Indonesia and the sharia bank with the most customers in the world.
He said that the BSI International Expo 2024 is a concrete manifestation of the sharia bank’s complete support for the development of the Islamic ecosystem, especially the halal industry in the country.
He expressed hope that the business matching agenda at the expo would help BSI-assisted small and medium enterprises go global with business expansion as well as benchmarking related to the development of halal products in Muslim countries.
The BSI International Expo will be held annually to bring together halal business people with international buyers through business matching, he added.
