Wants To Be Part Of The 10 World Islamic Banks, BSI Strengthens Cooperation With Global Financial Institutions To Open An Office In Dubai

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk (BRIS) or BSI is struggling to become the Top 10 Global Islamic Bank and bring Indonesia as the center of the world Islamic economy. One of the efforts is to cooperate with a number of global financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates.

Several global financial institutions that BSI cooperates with include Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Brunei Darussalam Berhad Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Maybank Islamic Berhad. The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) took place at The Ritz Carlton, Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai.

This memorandum of understanding is about cooperation in developing and expanding business activities such as treasury, financial institutions, trade finance, transactional banking, remittances, custodianship, syndicated financing, human capability development, etc.

"Alhamdulillah, BSI has opened its Representative Office at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) as BSI's first global presence based on the Letter of Incorporation from DIFC on November 4, 2021 and the Final Approval of Representative Office Permit from DFSA on January 28, 2022," said BSI Director of Finance & Strategy Ade Cahyo Nugroho in his statement, Sunday 27 March.

Cahyo explained that the BSI Dubai representative office officially marked the presence of the first bank from Indonesia in the Middle East region.

To become part of a global Islamic bank, BSI needs to have an international presence to be able to interact directly and closely with global banking players. Dubai, UAE – specifically DIFC – has been chosen by BSI to start its international journey as Dubai or DIFC is a well-developed global financial market.

The UAE is ranked as the easiest to do business in the region with a legal framework set according to international standards and is a center for Islamic finance.

"We believe that with our presence in Dubai, we will be able to expand our network with global banks in DIFC as well as connect the MEASA region (Middle East, Africa & South Asia) to the Indonesian market to provide value and benefits to both regions," said Cahyo.

As a mandate from the president of the Republic of Indonesia, BSI is part of Indonesia's journey in realizing its vision of becoming the center of the World Islamic Economy, this mandate is also in line with BSI's vision of becoming a Top 10 Global Islamic Bank Based on Market Capitalization within 5 years.