REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The President Director of Indonesia's biggest Islamic bank, Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), Hery Gunardi, revealed that the challenge faced in 2024 is to devise a strategy to attract cheap funds amid the rising trend of sentral bank Bank Indonesia's benchmark interest rate (BI). Hery said in the next year, the acquisition of cheap funds should be carried out by strengthening the cash management system.
He said his company its self already has a better cash management system engine than before.
“Banks have to think about how to encourage cheap funds. First from the savings side, then retail and also digitalization capabilities must be strong,” Hery said as quoted Monday (1/1/2024).
Hery also said that 2024 is predicted to be a challenging year as the outlook for global economic conditions is projected to slow down and affect national economic conditions.
“2024 is not an easy year to go through. The threat of a global recession, geopolitical tensions, and various current issues will still be so dynamic and will be full of vigilance,” Hery said.
As of the 3rd quarter 2023, BSI managed to make a profit of Rp 4.2 trillion or grow 31.04 percent on an annual basis. One of the pillars of the rapid profit growth is the composition of DPK (Third Party Funds) which is dominated by low-cost funds. Until September, the pool of third-party funds reached Rp 262 trillion, dominated by savings composition of Rp 115 trillion followed by deposits and current accounts.
Third-party funds grew 6.91 percent year on year (yoy). Business savings became the engine with 134.41 percent growth. That is, the preference of SES A (medium-high) people in BSI is quite high and becomes their choice to save money with the sharia financial system.
Financing segment grew positive and healthy with maintained quality. Until September 2023, BSI has distributed IDR 231.60 trillion in financing with a growth of 15.94 percent year on year. Financing is dominated by consumer segment amounting to Rp 117.90 trillion, corporate by IDR 54.40 trillion, micro by Rp 21.50 trillion, SMEs Rp 18.6 trillion, and commercial Rp 11.9 trillion.
In addition, BSI is also focused and committed to providing sustainable financing. Until September 2023, BSI's sustainable financing reached Rp 53.6 trillion, dominated by the MSME sector of Rp 43.4 trillion, followed by agriculture Rp 4.9 trillion, eco efficiency products Rp 3.3 trillion, renewable energy Rp 1.4 trillion and ecogreen projects Rp 600 billion.
The Company is committed to channel sound financing and sustain and has good quality. Several strategies are consistently implemented including a focus on sound financing and long-term orientation, accelerating the business process and discipline in monitoring the quality of financing.
Hery hopes that in 2024, BSI always gets protection, ease, and victory from Allah SWT.
“May Allah SWT protect us all and provide various facilities and blessings for Bank Sharia Indonesia, which wants to fly higher to bring prosperity not only to the people in Indonesia but also to the world,” he said.