Ma'ruf Amin: Islamic Financial Institutions Must Be Adaptive In The Digital Age

JAKARTA - The Muslim population in the world is expected to continue to increase. This increase will certainly be accompanied by an increasing demand for halal products and services.

The COVID-19 pandemic situation also shows a downward trend, this condition will provide wider opportunities to optimize all Islamic economic and financial potential in the country.

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin revealed a number of problems that are still faced by the Islamic financial services sector in Indonesia. Therefore, according to him, there needs to be support for strengthening the capacity of Islamic financial institutions in terms of capital, human resources (HR), risk management and good corporate governance (GCG).

Furthermore, Ma'ruf also asked Islamic financial institutions in Indonesia to be more adaptive in responding to market dynamics, especially in the current digital era. An adaptive attitude is needed in order to compete.

"Along with the demands of market dynamics in the digital era, Islamic financial institutions are also required to be more adaptive in responding to this by creating products and services that are in accordance with market needs so that they will become more competitive," he said at the 2021 Islamic Finance Summit, Thursday, 30 September.

In order to strengthen Islamic financial institutions, Ma'ruf said the government is and will continue to seek strengthening through a number of strategic initiatives. According to Ma'ruf, strengthening the direction of policies and regulations to strengthen the role of Islamic financial institutions as intermediaries for sharia business actors is carried out in two ways. First, the preparation of security crowd funding (SCF) regulations by the Financial Services Authority or OJK as an alternative funding for MSMEs.

Then, continued Ma'ruf, the establishment of the Indonesian Sharia Bank or BSI in order to increase the capacity of Islamic banks in distributing financing to the halal industry ecosystem in the country.

Meanwhile, said Ma'ruf, strengthening the supporting infrastructure for the Islamic finance industry was carried out through the preparation of Core Principles for Effective Islamic Deposit Insurance Systems (CPIDIS) by the Working Group of the International Association of Deposit Insurers and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IADI-IFSB), chaired by LPS and the preparation of the Road Map for the Development of Sharia Banking 2020-2024 by the OJK.

He explained that this road map is a policy direction and guide for all players in the Islamic banking industry in the country. Where this roadmap has been prepared taking into account various strategic issues.

Not only that, said Ma'ruf, the roadmap also includes challenges that still need to be resolved by the Islamic banking industry, including facing the new normal era as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

"If the road map can really be implemented properly, it is believed that resilient sharia banking will be realized, highly competitive, and contribute significantly to the national economy and social development in our country," he explained.