Peranan Bank Memihak UKM

Perkembangan UKM seringkali terhambat oleh sulitnya permodalan. Tengkulak bisa memberikan permodalan dengan cepat tapi dengan tingkat suku bunga yang sangat tinggi. Sementara bank bisa memberikan modal dengan dengan tingkat suku bunga yang lebih rendah tetapi dengan proses yang lebih lama dan persyaratan yang lebih rumit.

Namun demikian, apabila mau jujur, bank tidak sepenuh hati berpihak kepada UKM. Ada beberapa indikasi antara lain:
1. Dengan tingkat SBI 7%, bank masih mengucurkan pembiayaan di tingkat 15%. Dan tingkat suku bunga UKM biasanya lebih tinggi lagi karena dianggap memiliki risiko yang lebih tinggi.
2. Persyaratan laporan keuangan yang pastinya sulit disubmit oleh UKM
3. Persyaratan agunan yang ketat
4. Komposisi portofolio bank untuk sektor UKM sangat rendah. Alasan klasik adalah proses analisa untuk UKM dan usaha besar sama saja, tetapi menghasilkan keuntungan yang sangat berbeda.
5. Kalaupun ada bank yang memiliki porsi UKM yang “cukup”, perlu dilakukan penelitian lebih lanjut apakah betul mengarah ke sektor produktif atau konsumer. Saat ini bank lebih senang mengarahkan dana UKMnya ke sektor konsumer seperti Kartu Kredit.

Perlu keberpihakan pemerintah yang lebih baik agar bank bisa lebih berperan dalam pengembangan UKM. Saya mengusulkan beberapa hal antara lain:
1. Ciptakan dana murah untuk UKM, antara lain:
a. Turunkan tingkat SBI lebih rendah lagi agar bank enggan berinvestasi di sektor moneter.
b. Melarang Bank Pembangunan Daerah menginvestasikan dananya di sektor moneter seperti memborong SBI. BPD harus menginvestasikan dana di sektor riil untuk meningkatkan sektor usaha di daerah masing-masing, karena sumber dana BPD adalah dari negara. Apabila BPD dilarang untuk investasi di sektor moneter, maka sektor UKM di daerah akan lebih terbantu.
c. Penyisihan keuntungan BUMN yang saat ini sudah dilakukan harus diatur kembali, terutama tingkat suku bunganya. Seharusnya pemerintah tidak perlu mengambil untung dari penyaluran dana ini, alias bunga nol persen. Pemerintah bisa mewajibkan bank untuk ambil bagian dalam penyaluran dana ini dengan mengambil spread tertentu untuk overhead cost dan keuntungan secukupnya. Apabila ini terjadi, maka sektor UKM bisa menerima dana dimaksud dari bank penyalur dengan tingkat suku bunga yang lebih rendah, 2% – 4% saja.

2. Program penjaminan pembiayaan oleh pemerintah, seperti KUR atau BARAKAH perlu diperluas agar seminimal mungkin menurunkan porsi agunan. Program ini bisa saja dikombinasikan dengan program dana murah yang berasal dari penyisihan keuntungan BUMN.

3. Bank Indonesia harus menambahkan sektor produktif dalam definisi UKM, bukan sekadar dari nilai pembiayaan saja.

4. Bank Indonesia harus menambahkan portofolio sektor UKM sebagai salah satu unsur penilaian tingkat kesehatan bank.

Pengentasan kemiskinan tidak mesti melulu memberikan ikan. Memberikan kail akan mempercepat upaya pengentasan kemiskinan.

Bagaimana kira-kira pendapat para calon presiden kita untuk meningkatkan kemampuan UKM?

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Islamic Banking: Why so slow?

Terry Lacey , JAKARTA Wed, 03/04/2009 3:57 PM

The Fifth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) opened on Monday in Jakarta. The global Islamic financing industry has over US$1 trillion in assets. But Indonesian Islamic finance accounts for less than 3 percent of banking assets and lacks the know-how, staff and infrastructure to expand faster.

Indonesia is maintaining economic growth at over 4.5 percent and bank lending growth rates at over 15 percent.

If Indonesian conventional banking is doing quite well amidst a global banking crisis, why is Islamic banking in Indonesia moving so slowly?

The signing at the Forum of Memorandums of Agreement (MoAs) pending final negotiations on four Indonesian projects worth $ 3 billion was encouraging.

But an MoA is maybe half way to a full MoU, and in Indonesia too many MoUs evaporate. The road to nowhere can be paved with good intentions.

The problem in Indonesia and Muslim countries in transition is how to get from intention to im-plementation, as testified by the unfinished concrete pillars of the Jakarta monorail, monuments to lack of capacity, corruption and incompetence.

Now WIEF is five years old. It will be judged in the next five years by Muslim opinion on what is finished and not on what is half agreed.

The long list of Indonesian projects needing financing at the back of the Islamic Forum 2009 agenda highlights Indonesian needs for investment in toll roads, water supply, bridges, ports and power stations as well as biofuel, agriculture and tourism.

Yet performance in "Tapping Islamic funds" has fallen far short of potential, especially in government infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships.

There is a history of low capacity, poor project preparation, bureaucratic delays, slow reform of regulatory frameworks and poor enforcement, corruption, confusion and under-capacity in the implementation of decentralization.

Despite Indonesia*s predominantly Muslim identity there is also a discernable communication gap between the Indonesian bureaucracy and the more modern style of Gulf-based potential investors and developers.
There is a language gap. Many Indonesian officials cannot do business in English or Arabic. Many can recite prayers in Arabic, but cannot use it as a working language.

The Indonesian tendency to engage Arab culture and Arabic only at the level of religious ritual needs to be complemented by a more comprehensive commitment to modern dialogue with the Arab world on economic, social and political partnerships for Muslim modernization, moderation and democracy.
We cannot assume automatic affinity of interest based on the similarity of Muslim rituals, across very diverse cultures, unsupported by greater realities.

These communication gaps may help explain the relative modesty of the flow of resources from the Middle East so far and why in Indonesia there remains a huge gap between declarations of support for sharia banking and reality.
The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Indonesia, Siti Fadjrijah said in Jakarta in January that sharia banking could not reach the national 5 percent target in terms of national banking assets because " It's impossible during these hard economic times ".

Why is it impossible if there is $1.6 trillion of liquid assets in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia waiting to be invested, despite the recession ?

Indonesian sharia banking reached 3.79 million customers in 2008 via 1,452 bank outlets, compared to 6,500 conventional bank outlets. The latter backed by 97 percent of banking assets, and the former by only 3 percent. Why so little capital ?

Indonesian sharia banking disbursed only 589,000 loans in 2008 compared with 512,000 in 2007. Why so few ? Sharia banking "Loan disbursement is like a walking tortoise" said Siti Fadjrijah.
The sharia banking industry, to reach the 5 percent of banking assets target, would need an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 extra staff.
Given the global economic crisis, this would seem the right time to properly engage Middle Eastern partners, to speak Arabic as a language of business alongside English and Chinese, to invest in the huge Islamic banking potential of Indonesia, to hire the staff, create the jobs, and move more loans. So why doesn't Indonesia do it ?
The Council of Ulema, the Muhammadiah, the Nahdlatul Ulama, the conservatives, the liberals, the sharia banks, the sharia banking training and promotional agencies, the university departments, the NGOs and the little sharia banking lending groups should combine their efforts to bring this about, to deploy the uniqueness of shared profit and loss, one of the great innovations of sharia finance, to finance power and water for the poor and SMEs, to the benefit of the whole society.

The writer is a development economist based in Jakarta.
Source: Jakarta Post

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What is Islamic Bank?

Islamic banks appeared on the world scene as active players over two decades ago. But "many of the principles upon which Islamic banking is based have been commonly accepted all over the world, for centuries rather than decades".
The basic principle of Islamic banking is the prohibition of Riba- (Usury - or interest):
"While a basic tenant of Islamic banking - the outlawing of riba, a term that encompasses not only the concept of usury, but also that of interest - has seldom been recognised as applicable beyond the Islamic world, many of its guiding principles have. The majority of these principles are based on simple morality and common sense, which form the bases of many religions, including Islam.

"The universal nature of these principles is immediately apparent even at a cursory glance of non-Muslim literature. Usury was prohibited in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, while Shakespeare and many other writers, particularly those writing in the 19th century, have attacked the barbarity of the practice. Much of the morality championed by Victorian writers such as Dickens - ranging from the equitable distribution of wealth through to man's fundamental right to work - is clearly present in modern Islamic society.

"Although the western media frequently suggest that Islamic banking in its present form is a recent phenomenon, in fact, the basic practices and principles date back to the early part of the seventh century." (Islamic Finance: A Euromoney Publication, 1997)

It is evident that Islamic finance was practiced predominantly in the Muslim world throughout the Middle Ages, fostering trade and business activities. In Spain and the Mediterranean and Baltic States, Islamic merchants became indispensable middlemen for trading activities. It is claimed that many concepts, techniques, and instruments of Islamic finance were later adopted by European financiers and businessmen.

The revival of Islamic banking coincided with the world-wide celebration of the advent of the 15th Century of Islamic calendar (Hijra) in 1976. At the same time financial resources of Muslims particularly those of the oil producing countries, received a boost due to rationalization of the oil prices, which had hitherto been under the control of foreign oil Corporations. These events led Muslims' to strive to model their lives in accordance with the ethics and philosophy of Islam.

Disenchantment with the value neutral capitalist and socialist financial systems led not only Muslims but also others to look for ethical values in their financial dealings and in the West some financial organisations have opted for ethical operations.

Islam not only prohibits dealing in interest but also in liquor, pork, gambling, pornography and anything else, which the Shariah (Islamic Law) deems Haram (unlawful). Islamic banking is an instrument for the development of an Islamic economic order. Some of the salient features of this order may be summed up as:
-While permitting the individual the right to seek his economic well-being, Islam makes a clear distinction between what is Halal (lawful) and what is haram (forbidden) in pursuit of such economic activity. In broad terms, Islam forbids all forms of economic activity, which are morally or socially injurious.
-While acknowledging the individual's right to ownership of wealth legitimately acquired, Islam makes it obligatory on the individual to spend his wealth judiciously and not to hoard it, keep it idle or to squander it.
-While allowing an individual to retain any surplus wealth, Islam seeks to reduce the margin of the surplus for the well-being of the community as a whole, in particular the destitute and deprived sections of society by participation in the process of Zakat.
-While making allowance for the ways of human nature and yet not yielding to the consequences of its worst propensities, Islam seeks to prevent the accumulation of wealth in a few hands to the detriment of society as a whole, by its laws of inheritance.

Viewed as a whole, the economic system envisaged by Islam aims at social justice without inhibiting individual enterprise beyond the point where it becomes not only collectively injurious but also individually self-destructive.
The Islamic financial system employs the concept of participation in the enterprise, utilizing the funds at risk on a profit-and- loss-sharing basis. This by no means implies that investments with financial institutions are necessarily speculative. This can be excluded by careful investment policy, diversification of risk and prudent management by Islamic financial institutions.

It is possible, that investment in Islamic financial institutions can provide potential profit in proportion to the risk assumed to satisfy the differing demands of participants in the contemporary environment and within the guidelines of the Shariah.

The concept of profit-and-loss sharing, as a basis of financial transactions is a progressive one as it distinguishes good performance from the bad and the mediocre. This concept therefore encourages better resource management.
Islamic banks are structured to retain a clearly differentiated status between shareholders' capital and clients' deposits in order to ensure correct profit-sharing according to Islamic Law.

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Sukuk (Islamic Bonds)

Sukuk is the Arabic name for a financial certificate but can be seen as an Islamic equivalent of bond. However, fixed-income, interest-bearing bonds are not permissible in Islam. Hence, Sukuk are securities that comply with the Islamic law (Shariah) and its investment principles, which prohibit the charging or paying of interest. Financial assets that comply with the Islamic law can be classified in accordance with their tradability and non-tradability in the secondary markets.

Conservative estimates suggest that over US$500 billion of assets are managed according to Islamic investment principles.

Sukuk (Arabic: صكوك‎, plural of صك Sakk, "legal instrument, deed, check") is the Arabic name for a financial certificate but can be seen as an Islamic equivalent of bond. However, fixed income, interest bearing bonds are not permissible in Islam, hence Sukuk are securities that comply with the Islamic law and its investment principles, which prohibits the charging, or paying of interest. Financial assets that comply with the Islamic law can be classified in accordance with their tradability and non-tradability in the secondary markets.
Conservative estimates by the Ten-Year Framework and Strategies suggest that over $700 billion of assets are managed according to Islamic investment principles. Such principles form part of Shari'ah, which is often understood to be ‘Islamic Law’, but it is actually broader than this in that it also encompasses the general body of spiritual and moral obligations and duties in Islam.

Sharia-compliant assets worldwide are worth an estimated $500 billion and have grown at more than 10 per cent per year over the past decade, placing Islamic finance in a global asset class all of its own. In the Gulf and Asia, Standard & Poor's estimates that 20 per cent of banking customers would now spontaneously choose an Islamic financial product over a conventional one with a similar risk-return profile.

With its Arabic terminology and unusual prohibitions, Sukuk financing can be quite mystifying for the outsider. A good analogy is one of ethical or green investing. Here the universe of investable securities is limited by certain criteria based on moral and ethical considerations. Islamic Finance is also a subset of the global market and there is nothing that prevents the conventional investor from participating in the Islamic market.

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Bahrain Plans to Open Islamic Bank in Russia

On December 2,2008 in Moscow under the patronage of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and with the support of the Russian – Arabic Business Council the Russian – Bahrain Business Forum took place, commemorated to the official visit of the King of Bahrain Hamad Ben Isa Al Halifa to the Russian Federation. Russian and Bahraini businesses took part in the Forum.

In his greeting speech the minister of industry and trade of Bahrain Hasab Ben Abdalla Fahro stated that he put high hopes on the results of the present Forum as he considered that Russian and Bahraini businessmen had vast space for cooperation.

The Chairman of the board of Directors of CCI of Bahrain Isam Abdallah Fahro noted that the financial crisis notwithstanding its negative consequences is the time for actions. Today if the best time for development the bilateral trade relations. The representatives of Bahraini delegation in theirs presentations highlighted many advantages for foreign investors in Bahrain, such as favourable tax regime, equal terms and conditions for native and foreign businesses and law costs of operations.

Deputy Minister of economic development of the Russian Federation S. Voskresenskiy in his speech informed the foreign guests of the possibilities of making business in Russia. He also noted that Russia has a most liberal currency regime. And in future a special attention on the part of the state will be made to the private – public partnerships.

Special attention was raised by the presentation of the chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank “Ismar” Mr. Haled Djanahi. In his speech he proclaimed the intention to open an Islamic bank in Russia with a branch of it in Bahrain .

In the Forum Russia Mufties Council was represented by the authorized on Halal standard Jafar Azizbaev and head of Economic programmes department Madina Kalimullina.

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iB Award, as the Manifestation of Central Bank Appreciation Toward Islamic Banks

Selasa, 10 Pebruari 2009

Jakarta (10/2). At the last day of Festival Ekonomi Syariah 2009 (Islamic Finance Exhibition) at Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC) Senayan, Bank Indonesia has presented the iB award, whereas Bank Syariah Mandiri was the winner for 2 catogories, human resources development and productivity outlet, while the winner for the best market share was BNI syariah and the winner for best Quality was CIMB Niaga syariah.
The iB (Islamic banking) award is the manifestation of appreciation from Bank Indonesia as the Central Bank toward Islamic Bank's performance in applying the Islamic Finance concepts in Indonesia.
Apart from iB award, there were other awards presented for the best kiosk of banking sector where the winner was CIMB Niaga syariah, and from non banking sector, the best kiosk winner was Data scrip and for the visitor favorite kiosk won by Bank Muamalat Indonesia. (nad/Nibra pkesinteraktif)

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Excellent Career

Bank Negara Malaysia as the Central Bank, has the envious task of leading and molding the growth and development of the nation’s financial system. We are committed to excellence in promoting monetary and financial system stability and fostering a sound and progressive financial sector to achieve sustained economic growth for the benefit of the nation. Over the years our roles and responsibilities have evolved and part of the growth includes our ability to attract the most intelligent and talented group of people in the nation. Be a true asset and rise to the challenge by applying to the job below.

Senior Executive - Islamic Banking & Takaful (Shariah)
(Kuala Lumpur - Head Office)Responsibilities:-->
Key Responsibilities
To assist Manager to develop a comprehensive Shariah compliance framework, provide Shariah advisory services to relevant stakeholders, conduct applied Shariah research and undertake effective measures in ensuring all Islamic financial products and operations are compatible with Shariah;
Undertake the administrative works as the Secretariat for Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia;
Assist Manager to conduct research in the emerging Shariah issues pertaining to the assigned area of applied Shariah contracts in Islamic finance;
Assist Manager to draft and produce impactful Shariah resolutions endorsed by the Shariah Advisory Council;
Assist Manager to provide Shariah advisory services relating to product proposals to ensure Shariah compliance;
Assist Manager to provide sound Shariah inputs for policy formulation in Islamic finance;
Assist Manager to undertake projects and ad-hoc assignments, as and when required, such as drafting speeches, answering parlimentary questions and responding to public queries on Shariah matters in Islamic banking and takaful; and
Assist Manager to coordinate Shariah harmonisation programs at regional and international levels.
Requirements:-->Our Requirements
Possess a recognized Bachelor’s Degree in Shariah / Law / Islamic Banking / Business Administration with at least a 2nd Class Upper or CGPA of 3.00 and above;
Credit in Bahasa Malaysia in SPM / SPMV or equivalent;
Good command of both written and spoken English and Arabic;
Knowledge in Muamalat is an added advantage;
Resourceful, hardworking, self-motivated, committed, and highly organized;
Good interpersonal skills and able to interact with people at all levels; and
A Malaysian citizen aged 35 and below.Applicants should be Malaysian citizens or hold relevant residence status.
Bank Negara Malaysia is committed to the continuous career growth of our talents. The rewards we offer include:
A challenging and rewarding career;
A competitive basic salary to commensurate with skills and experience;
Comprehensive medical coverage, insurance and other benefits that are amongst the best;
Continuous learning opportunity locally and abroad through full scholarship or training program.

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