A merger of the state-owned BRI with its newly-acquired subsidiaries, Bank Agroniaga, and Bank Bukopin is in the air. This is prescribed by operation of law.
The government is improving the provision for KUR microcredit as part of efforts to accelerate the disbursement of the targeted Rp 13.1 trillion (US$1.45 billion) this year, a senior minister said Thursday. This was an important announcement as Bank Mandiri voiced earlier that it had problems extending the loans fearing for non-payment and lack of collateral. Micro finance – so much is clear – is a special niche.
The Bank Indonesia BI announced that it will discipline “disobedient” or “disloyal” bankers. Where it is normal to sanction bankers that do not apply the regulations, I think this must be a question of a translation gone wrong. The BI also announced that it may require banks to disclose prime lending rate and raise Loans on Deposits ratio LDR.
The new Sovereign Sukuk was confirmed for the 1st Quarter of 2011.
Whilst the stock exchange and the economy grow nicely, FDI is set to augment by 30 % next year. Albaraka Banking Group ABG – recently missing out on Bank Kesawan and cancelling a potential deal in Malaysia this week - confirmed that Indonesia is still in the basket to spend $30-50 million to buy a bank. ABG already has a representative office in Jakarta.
Bank Internasional Indonesia BII (owned by the Malaysian Maybank) did see it’s Standard & Poor’s ratings confirmed. The rating was then withdrawn at the bank's request.
Consumer spending has gone up during Ramadan and the following Lebaran, also for the account holders at the Islamic banks (20 % in all). The pitch of Bank Mandiri Syariah was world news in this respect: “Jakarta-based Bank Syariah Mandiri joined Islamic lenders worldwide to use Ramadan to remind Muslims to obey the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that ban interest”. It was however not clear if the rise was caused by more debt per capita or simply by the sheer number of more account holders.
On the Fiqh-side, the Tawarruq-issue continues to stir unrest. See the remark of a senior Scholar at the IDB. Those of you interested, but not really introduced in the concept, may contact me.
An opinion has been published on the tax-deductibility of the Zakat-contributions. It is weird that this can be a topic of debate. Deductibility would encourage the people to take up their personal responsibility and grow the overall contributions.
I have again added lots of video. Mostly on Islamic Fashion and recent Halal-certificate debates. Some on financial topics. Just have a look in the “video” section of the blog.
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