Focus on the Little Guy Could Boost Islamic Banking in Indonesia

31 January 2010

Indonesia's central bank has recently embraced new regulations for Islamic banking, which it sees as key to building on last year's strong economic growth. In a country that is home to more than 200 million Muslims, the potential for expansion is enormous, although Islamic finance still accounts for a small part of the country's financial market.

Over the past six years Islamic banking has averaged 36 percent annual growth in Indonesia. But its $7 billion in assets makes up only 2.5 percent of the country's total banking sector.

Banking analysts say unclear regulations on banking that conforms to Islamic law and pervasive corruption have kept investors away from Indonesia.

The central bank, Bank Indonesia, wants that to change. It has drafted a blueprint that includes expanding Islamic lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, scrapping a tax law that imposes extra costs on Islamic banking transactions and improving risk management.

Under Islamic, or Sharia, law, charging or paying interest is banned, as are investment in businesses that Islam finds unacceptable, such as liquor companies.

Some financial experts say Islamic banking principles, which limit the use of sophisticated derivatives and require transactions to be backed by real assets, could prevent the excessive leverage that undermined the global financial system two years ago.