Bank Syariah Indonesia is Ready to Develop a Branch Office in Dubai

JAKARTA - Deputy Main Director of PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk (BSI) Bob Tyasika Ananta said that BSI is developing a representative office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a branch office.

"We will upgrade to a full branch, God willing, we will upgrade it in the near future, maybe it won't be long before it becomes a full branch," said Tasyika Ananta after the BSI Preparedness Seminar ahead of Eid al-Fitr 2023 in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, April 5.

According to him, if it has been inaugurated, the BSI Branch Office in Dubai can serve various financial transactions.

Some time ago, the leadership of the BSI representative office in Dubai also conducted a fit and proper test regarding the readiness to develop a representative office into a branch office.

He hopes that BSI can be involved in 10 to 20 percent of trade transactions between Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, which are around US$4 billion a year, with the establishment of the branch office.

"Until now there has not been a single national bank operating in Dubai. So developing a representative office into a branch office is an opportunity for us, especially as an Islamic bank in Indonesia," he said.

To support BSI's various operational activities this year, BSI plans to issue sukuk, especially to replace the value of the bonds maturing in 2023 of around IDR 1.3 trillion.

However, he said he could not confirm the value of the sukuk to be issued, but that it would definitely be issued to meet the requirements of the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

"In order to comply with the provisions of the OJK as a systemic bank, we must have a debt instrument system. The big problem is, we have not yet determined whether the entire IDR 1.3 trillion will be extended, but to comply with the OJK provisions, we will indeed issue it," he said.