Expanding To The Middle East, Bank Syariah Indonesia Explains Several Business Potentials To Be Worked On

BSI banking services. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Syariah Indonesia Tbk (BRIS) or BSI is starting to spread its wings by opening services in the Middle East. In fact, BSI is now the first Indonesian bank to open a business network in an Arab country that is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and has started its business and services through collaboration with global corporations.

President Director of BSI Hery Gunardi revealed interesting facts about the investment that the bank he leads. According to Hery, the Middle East region offers huge business potential.

"First, hajj and umrah, where Indonesia is the largest contributor to the hajj pilgrims, reaching 221,000 per year (in the pre-COVID period) with a cash value of around IDR 15.4 trillion," he said in a statement to the media, Tuesday, May 17.

Second, continued Hery, in terms of trade, Indonesia has a significant volume with the GCC area. In particular, the two largest economies in the GCC, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which reached 6.87 billion US dollars per year or approximately IDR 96 trillion (data in 2020).

Third, in terms of the Indonesian diaspora, there are 1 million Indonesian citizens living and working in the Middle East region.

"Citing Bank Indonesia data in 2019, Saudi Arabia had 961 thousand Indonesians or the most in the Middle East Region. Followed by the United Arab Emirates as many as 45 thousand," continued Hery.

Fourth, Dubai is an investor base. Where the Indonesian government publishes all Global Sovereign Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai. In fact, around 30 percent of Global Sukuk investors come from the Middle East region.

Fifth is the investment climate. This is because countries in the Middle East are currently promoting development projects with a vision beyond oil development.

"Thus, more and more countries in the Middle East, especially the GCC, are starting to diversify their development from oil-based-revenue to non-oil-based revenue, especially from the service-based economy and therefore will be more investment friendly," he said.

In addition to the business potential, continued Hery, DIFC is a mature financial center, friendly to investment and has an international standard legal and regulatory framework.

"DIFC is a leading financial center in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia Region (MEASA) with a total coverage of 72 countries with a total population of approximately 3 billion people with a nominal GDP of 7.7 trillion US dollars," added Hery.

In addition, he continued, DIFC also has a track record of 15 years in facilitating trade and investment flows throughout the MEASA region.

"This makes Dubai a liaison with Asian, European and American markets," he concluded.

For information, with its vision to drive the future of finance, DIFC currently has more than 3.292 listed companies that focus on: Banking Services (Investment, Corporate, & Private), Capital Markets (Equity, Debt, Derivatives, & Commodity Trading), Assets management & Fund Registration, Reinsurance, Islamic Finance, and Back Office Operations.