Despite the fact that Shariah-based banks in Indonesia experienced a remarkable 88.6% growth in assets in 2004, the public is still years away from fully embracing the concept, a top banker said recently.
Speaking at a discussion held by the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) President Director, Rudjito, cited an internal survey conducted in Aceh, where Shariah-based laws are officially imposed, and where only one of BRI's ten branches offer full Islamic banking services.
The survey revealed that although the majority of Acehnese said that commercial banking models were against Islamic teachings, only 11% of them claimed to have an adequate understanding of Shariah banking.
"The number one, two and three priority is educating the public on Shariah,” said Rudjito whose bank operates 17 Shariah branches out of its 340 branches. He added that since Islamic banking is not confined to Muslims, the focus should not be on religion alone.
With 17 Shariah branches, BRI has the largest presence -- outside of the three fully-fledged Shariah banks -- among the 15 commercial banks with Shariah units. The 15 banks offering Shariah services are a significant increase from the eight banks in 2003.
In 2004, the business of Shariah banking experienced rapid growth, with assets reaching US$1.47 billion (Rp14 trillion), representing about 1.14% of total banking assets in the country. Over the past four years alone assets have grown 60% on average. Bank Indonesia projects that by 2011, the asset share of Shariah banks will reach between 5% and 9% of the nation's total banking assets.
Source: www.IslamicFinanceNews.com |
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