BSI Collects IDR 20.9 Billion Funds For 165 Underprivileged IPB Students

JAKARTA - PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk (BSI) and the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) University assisted underprivileged students through a waqf deposit product called BSI Deposito Waqf Series 1-Alumni IPB which had raised funds worth Rp20.09 billion with 165 beneficiaries.

"Through this waqf deposit, IDR 20.09 billion has now been collected with 165 students receiving the first phase of benefits since the waqf deposit instrument was issued in November 2023," said BSI Sales & Distribution Director Anton Sukarna as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 15.

As a sharia bank as well as a Sharia Financial Institution that accepts cash waqf (LKSPWU), he continued, BSI is committed to always being active in developing waqf movements in Indonesia.

He believes that the potential for cash waqf in Indonesia, which is estimated at IDR 180 trillion per year, can be realized if all parties collaborate.

It is recorded that today as many as 165 underprivileged students in the first stage have received benefits from this program with scholarship scores ranging from Rp. 3 million to Rp. 5 million per person. God willing, in the future the number of beneficiaries will continue to grow along with the addition of the Waqf Deposit result which will also continue to grow," he said.

Now, four series of BSI Deposito Waqf issuance have been running from various universities and three universities that are currently under investigation.

The innovation of Islamic financial instruments is expected to be able to provide new breakthroughs to provide educational opportunities that are appropriate for outstanding students, but financially it costs money.

For this reason, the BSI Deposit Waqf product will continue to be developed. Waqf deposits will have features that are connected to financing, so that deposit returns become installments for productive waqf financing managed by Nazir. Thus, productive waqf projects do not need to wait for the collected funds and can be realized more quickly.

On that occasion, he also said that IPB became one of the campuses with the fastest executions and became the driving force for waqf deposits.

Therefore, he recommends that there be further series issuance so that waqf deposit funds returning to customers will re-enter as Temporary Cash Waqf funds, and the proceeds can continue to be utilized.

Chairman of the IPB Alumni Association Walneg S Jas said that his party is targeting a thousand scholarship recipients from Nazhir IPB-BSI-01-Alumni IPB waqf deposits with a total set of funds of IDR 100 billion.

This is considered to be faster if alumni can sincerely contribute more to the progress of the world of education in Indonesia.

"This Waqf Deposit is a positive initiation between the IPB and BSI Alumni Association so that underprivileged students at IPB can complete their education without worrying about costs. Of course in the future, we hope that more alumni will contribute so that the benefits of this waqf deposit can be felt by more students," said Walneg.

The Nazhir IPB-BSI-01-Alumni IPB series waqf deposit is a temporary cash waqf program through a cash waqf linked deposit (CWLD) scheme.

The program is aimed at helping the cost of education for IPB University students for those who experience problems.