INDONESIA - BANKING - Banks ‘held hostage’ by big depositors: Bank Indonesia

www.thejakartapost.com - Bank Indonesia (BI) has uncovered worrying evidence that the country’s banks are being held hostage by their big clients, preventing them from lowering their interest rates in line with the central bank’s low interest-rate policy.

BI Governor Darmin Nasution said that based on the central bank’s survey, most banks could not cut their interest rates to an affordable level for businesses as they had to spend huge amounts to keep their big depositors from going elsewhere.

Around 99 percent of the country’s banks offer special high-level interest rates or provide generous gifts to their big depositors, which then must be covered by proceeds from higher interest rates levied on businesses, including small-scale enterprises, according to Darmin. (source)

INDONESIA - BANKING - Lucky draw’ program helps Permata ad Permata Syariah

www.thejakartapost.com - PT Bank Permata (BNLI) has reported more than 30 percent increases in its third-party funds each year for the last two years following the launch of the bank’s family oriented lucky draw program.

“The lucky draw program has become one of our successful keys to getting more customers and [we] derived a significant amount of third-party funds. Looking at those achievements, we are eager to carry it out again,” Permata e-Channels’ head, Bianto Surodjo, said during the launch of the bank’s third lucky draw program on Thursday.

The four-month program, called PermataFamillionaire, offers total prizes of Rp 8 billion (US$872,000) and up to 2 percent extra interest savings to lure families to open accounts with Permata.  (source)

CAPITAL MARKETS - SUKUK - Indonesian sukuk shunned as inflation quickens

Indonesia’s highest inflation rate in almost two years is discouraging investors from the nation’s Islamic bonds as HwangDBS Investment Management Bhd. says policy makers will raise borrowing costs at least once more this year. (source)

BANKING - Uganda asks for Indonesia advice on sharia banking

The Ugandan central bank is currently struggling to address demands for the first sharia bank in the East African country.

Bank of Uganda, the republic’s central bank, has therefore sent delegates to Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, to learn more about Islamic finance. (source)

HALAL - Most halal products lack official approval

Just over a third of all the halal products offered for sale in Indonesia actually have official halal certificates, according food and drug monitoring agencies.

Only 41,495 products — 36.73 percent of all products registered at the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) — had official halal certificates, according to the BPOM. (source)

FINANCIAL MARKETS - Govt set to offer third retail sukuk in February

The Finance Ministry’s Debt Management Office (DMO) officially appointed 20 banks and securities companies Friday as the sales agents of Islamic bonds (sukuk) that will be sold to Indonesian individuals next month, officials say.

Director general of debt management Rahmat Waluyanto said the government would not limit the amount of funds to be collected from the sukuk offering.