CIMB Niaga Godok Islamic Commercial Bank Scheme

President Director of CIMB Niaga Lani Darmawan. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk is working on a scheme for the establishment and implementation of Islamic commercial banks after expressing readiness to separate (spin off) sharia business units from the conventional private commercial bank.

"We held intensive talks with regulators, especially the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and several other regulators to discuss the implementation of the do's and don't't", said CIMB Niaga President Director Lani Darmawan in Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali, quoted from Antara, Friday, March 8.

According to him, one of the discussion themes concerns the naming of implementation instructions after the sharia business unit (UUS) is ready to be separated from its parent as a conventional commercial bank.

By pocketing the total assets of around Rp70 trillion, he said, it met the provisions of OJK Regulation Number 12 of 2023 concerning Sharia Business Units (UUS) to become a general bank of sharia (BUS).

Article 59 of this provision states that conventional commercial banks that have UUS with a total UUS asset of at least Rp. 50 trillion are required to separate UUS from certain stages.

There is also something to note in this separation, namely the performance of the financial services industry which is efficient, healthy and sustainable.

In accordance with these provisions, there are two options that can be taken, namely by establishing a new Islamic general bank which is the result of separation or transfer of the rights and obligations of sharia business units to existing Islamic commercial banks that have received separation.

If this plan can be realized, then this BUS has the potential to be the second largest in terms of assets after Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) which is a merger of three Islamic bank businesses.

"Currently with UUS, our Islamic portfolio is the second largest after BSI with nearly Rp70 trillion," he said.

There is also a sharia business unit at CIMB Niaga Syariah as of the end of December 2023 distributing financing reaching IDR 55.2 trillion, an increase of 17 percent compared to the same period the previous year which reached IDR 45.9 trillion.

Meanwhile, third party funds (DPK) collected reached IDR 44.9 trillion, an increase of 13.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022.