BNI Negotiating Capitalization of New Shariah Bank with ICD

Jakarta, (ANTARA News)-

Bank BNI is currently negotiating the capitalization of a new shariah bank it has agreed to set up in Indonesia in partnership with the Islamic Corporation for the Private Sector (ICD), the bank`s chief said. Bank BNI`s target in the talks was for the planned shariah bank to be capitalized at US$500 milllion or Rp4.5 trillion with BNI holding only a minority stake, Bank BNI President Director Gatot M Suwondo said here Friday.

"If the negotiations are successful, the shariah bank`s capital will reach US$500 million or about Rp4.5 trillion. Thereby it will be the shariah bank with the largest capital in the country," he said.Bank BNI and ICD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October 2007 to study the possibility of establishing a shariah bank as a joint venture with Bank BNI`s shariah unit serving as the embryo.

The shariah bank would be co-owned by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and was therefore expected to generate benefits for BNI and the Indonesian public in general. Suwondo said BNI had decided to be just a minority shareholder in the joint shariah bank so that BNI would not need to spend too much on its participation in the bank and more foreign capital could be attracted.

"I hope the negotiations with ICD can be finalized this month so that we can proceed to implement the next phase of the plan," Suwondo added.(*)