FPI 'Gelayuti' Is The Largest Sharia Bank In Indonesia

Bank Mandiri Syariah head office in Jakarta. (Photo: Doc. BSM)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM) explicitly stated that it had frozen the accounts of customers who were strongly suspected of being affiliated with the banned mass organization the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

The official statement was made by BSM Corporate Secretary Ivan Ally. According to him, the policy for freezing the accounts was in accordance with the prevailing regulations.

"Bank Syariah Mandiri stated that it always complies and complies with the laws and regulations in force in Indonesia in carrying out all banking operations, including the temporary suspension of customer accounts," he said on January 11.

Ivan ensured that this blocking was temporary in accordance with the direction of the competent authorities.

"Not on the bank's initiative," he added.

Meanwhile, the authorities referred to by Ivan include the Police, Attorney General's Office, Judges, KPK, Tax Officers, and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).

In the future, BSM invites certain parties and agencies that feel they own and are responsible for the account to directly contact the bank if they feel that the freezing decision is burdensome.

"If the customer objects to the suspension, the customer can directly contact us for further explanation," he said.

BSM's strategic policy towards customer account status fulfills a similar action previously taken by PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA).

Starting from Twitter

The clamor for the freezing of accounts that were allegedly affiliated with FPI originated from a warganet tweet on Sunday, January 10, which had trended.

Several citizens shared their tweets regarding this matter. One of them is the Fe_Bintang account which wrote a tone of disapproval for this financial service institution owned by PT Bank Mandiri Tbk.

"Just withdraw your savings from Bank Mandiri Syariah. Banks are playing in the politics of #boikotsyariahmandiri, ”he said on Sunday, January 10.

Likewise, the @Gaknyehar__ account also shared his views on the suspicion of account suspension which was allegedly related to FPI activities. In fact, these netizens questioned the attitude of banks whether they could impose the same policy against misappropriators of state funds.

"Are the accounts of the corruptors' families blocked?" he called.

Based on the information gathered by the editorial staff, BSM is believed to have unilaterally suspended accounts for customers who are the daughters of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab.

BSM performance

Bank Syariah Mandiri's performance is arguably excellent. Even though the situation is currently in a pandemic period, the largest Islamic bank in Indonesia is able to make its own achievements.

Quoting the company's latest financial report for the third quarter of 2020 on the official website, it was stated that Bank Syariah Mandiri managed to collect a net profit of not less than IDR 1.07 trillion. This figure is up 22.6 percent compared to the same period the previous year

Meanwhile, BSM support contributed most by the increase in fee-based income, especially from digital services, gold-based products and consumer financing margin income.

From the collection of third party funds (DPK), it was stated that there was an increase in the value of deposits with savings being the main supporter of Rp.44.7 trillion or an increase of 19.2 percent year-on-year. This high savings rate contributed 59.2 percent of all low-cost funds owned by the company (savings, current accounts and time deposits).

The soaring DPK made BSM assets recorded at Rp. 119.43 trillion or an increase of 16.1 percent.

Then for the banking intermediation sector, BSM financing is said to have touched a value of IDR 79.2 trillion or grew 7.3 percent compared to the third quarter of 2019.

The increase in the amount of financing was followed by the company's ability to maintain the quality of its distribution of funds with a net NPF (non-performing financing / NPF) ratio of 0.6 percent in September 2020 compared to September 2019 which was 1.6 percent.

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) itself provides a benchmark for the distribution of healthy category financing and credit not to exceed the 4 percent requirement.

BSM's journey in forming Indonesian Sharia Bank

Bank Syariah Mandiri is a subsidiary of PT Bank Mandiri Tbk. The forerunner to the establishment of BSM was when Bank Mandiri took a strategic step by transforming PT Bank Susila Bakti, which at that time was part of a subsidiary, into a sharia-based banking institution.

Now that Bank Syariah Mandiri has been established for more than two decades, the government as the controlling shareholder made an important decision to merge three state-owned Islamic banks into Bank Syariah Indonesia. Meanwhile, the three banks are PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRIS), PT Bank Negara Indonesia Syariah, as well as PT Bank Syariah Mandiri.

BRIS itself as the only public company among the three banks was appointed as the parent entity. Meanwhile, the other two will merge into the core structure of the BRIS.

However, what is unique is that BSM is known to be the entity with the largest portion of paid-in shares with 51 percent. This is because BSM is the largest Islamic bank in Indonesia in terms of asset ownership.

A report states that based on the recapitulation of the first semester of 2020 performance, these three national sharia banks have total assets of Rp. 214 trillion with a core capital of Rp. 20.4 trillion.

Majority shareholders who are 'underlings'

Although it can be said that it is quite accomplished in terms of business activities, this does not automatically make BSM the leader of the Indonesian Sharia Bank. The government as the largest shareholder prefers BRIS as the parent entity, with the other two being merged into the core structure.

It is estimated that the main reason the country appointed BRIS was because this financial service institution had already become a public company compared to the other two banks so that it did not repeat the IPO (initial public offering) process if it wanted to be listed on the stock exchange

In addition, BRIS is a subsidiary of the largest bank in Indonesia, namely BRI, with a consolidated asset record of Rp1,447 trillion as of September 2020.

Until the end of the third quarter of 2020, BRIS was known to have obtained a net profit of Rp. 190 billion with an asset of Rp. 56 trillion.

Meanwhile, BNI Syariah for the same period posted a net profit of Rp. 387 billion and assets of Rp. 52.3 trillion. The difference in performance posture and assets between BSM and the two other banks is very striking. However, the government must have thought carefully about this matter.

The bank, which is projected to become the largest Islamic financial services institution in the republic, was established through a merger agreement signed on Wednesday, December 16, 2020.

Through the memorandum of understanding, it was agreed that Hery Gunardi (Managing Director of BRIS) as the President Director of Bank Syariah Indonesia. Followed by Ngatari (Managing Director of BSM) as deputy managing director I, and Abdulah Firman Wibowo (Managing Director of BNI Syariah) as deputy managing director II.

According to the plan, Bank Syariah Indonesia will start operating fully on February 1