Jakarta. Indonesia is seeking a partnership with Saudi Arabia on Islamic banking to pave the way for the state-owned BSI's dream of becoming among the world’s ten largest sharia banks by 2025. 

According to State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir, sharia banking has become a prospective sector that Indonesia and Saudi Arabia can work together on.

Indonesia has merged its three state-owned sharia banks —BRI Syariah, Bank Syariah Mandiri, and BNI Syariah— into Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). Erick said that BSI had become Indonesia’s largest sharia bank. He also claimed BSI was on the course of moving into the top 14 sharia bank global rankings this year.  

“BSI seeks a strategic partnership to achieve its goal of becoming the world's top 10 biggest sharia banks by 2025. We are looking for a strategic partner that can have the same vision on how to build Indonesia’s sharia economy,” Erick said at the Indonesia-Arab Business Forum in Jakarta on Tuesday.

In 2022, BSI posted Rp 4.26 trillion (around $284.3 million) in net profit, marking a 40.68 percent growth from an estimated Rp 3 trillion the previous year. 

BSI and Riyad Bank last year agreed to help with the former’s business expansion in Saudi Arabia. The partnership covers treasury, haj and umrah, and trade finance, among others.

Indonesia’s Muslim population reaches 229 million people, according to a Statista survey. Despite being home to the world’s largest Muslim population, BSI revealed that the Islamic banking market share reached less than 7 percent in Indonesia as of 2022.

Government data shows Indonesia-Saudi Arabia trade totaled $7.5 billion in 2022. Saudi Arabia's direct investment flows to Indonesia reached $1.7 million in the same year.

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