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Indonesia's three state-owned banks will merge their sharia banking units to create one of the country's biggest lenders. Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia have signed a conditional merger agreement for their Islamic banking units. The new bank will have combined assets of 207 trillion rupiah ($14 billion), making it the eighth-largest lender by assets in the country. The merger is slated to complete next year and is still subject to approval from regulators and shareholders. Indonesia is keen to position the country as the hub of the region's Islamic economy. The country's five-year master plan aims to increase the market share of Islamic financing in the country to 20% by 2024.

Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's biggest bank by assets, is set to meet the 300 million ringgit ($74 million) capital requirement to operate as a full banking branch in Malaysia. Financial authorities from Indonesia and Malaysia signed a bilateral agreement allowing greater access for lenders from both countries to fully operate in the respective jurisdictions. Bank Mandiri will open several new offices and a string of ATMs in the country, though it will not specifically target the retail banking market in Malaysia. Mandiri had already opened one subsidiary in Malaysia called Mandiri International Remittance whose service is limited to sending money to and from Indonesia. When it has a full branch in Malaysia, it will also be able to offer credit services.

The nation’s eight largest banks, representing 46 % of national banking assets, have committed to implementing sustainable financing as part of global environment goals.

Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Muamalat, BRI Syariah, Bank Jabar Banten (BJB) and Bank Artha Graha Internasional signed the commitment with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia on Monday. The commitment was manifested in a pilot project called “first step to becoming a sustainable bank”, marking a big move taken by the banks less than a year after the OJK launched the 2014-2019 Sustainable Financial Roadmap, according to OJK head Muliaman D. Hadad.

“I hope these eight banks, which are the prime movers in this project, can encourage other banks and financial institutions to join the country’s implementation of sustainable finance,” Muliaman said in his speech. Through the green banking pilot project, Muliaman said participating banks were expected to balance their pursuit of profits with willingness to conserve the environment, serving as examples to their peers.

Indonesia seems to push ahead with its plans to create a new $8bn Islamic bank that would mainly arise from the merger of three large domestic Shariah-compliant lenders. According to the chairman of Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority, Muliaman Hadad, the merger between the Islamic finance units of government-controlled Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia, as well as a small unit of Bank Tabungan Negara, could happen as early as this year. The idea behind the mega-merger is to create an Islamic banking institution that would be able to face the growing foreign competition, as well as to boost the currently quite small market share of Islamic finance in the country. The new Islamic mega-bank would also be a catalyst for new products for retail customers and businesses.

Indonesian authorities are pushing ahead with a plan to create an $8 billion Islamic megabank, even after a similar proposal fell through in Malaysia. A potential merger of the shariah-compliant units of government-controlled Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia could happen as soon as this year, Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman Hadad said. Talks are ongoing with the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, which first proposed the merger in May 2013. The megabank could help drive a quadrupling in Islamic banks’ market share to 20 percent by 2018, compared with 10 percent without it.

Offers for strategic partnerships with foreign investors in plantation projects have been put up by Indonesian Islamic banks among which Bank Mandiri. This way, the Islamic banking platform shall be strengthened. Loan syndication for the purpose of financing medium and large scale projects is proposed. This kind of cooperation would result in an increase in the efficiency and better risk management as well as stronger Islamic banking.

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The government is thinking about up sizing the issuance of the nation’s fourth ever retail Islamic debt papers (sukuk) after seeing strong request from local individual investors.
About 14,000 investors have ordered Rp 11.1 trillion worth of the Islamic bonds within the first six days of the offering up to Monday, already nearing selling agents’ more than Rp 13 trillion commitment.
Many agents have revised their targets. The agents composed of 13 banks and 11 securities firms, including Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, Citibank, OCBC NISP, Danareksa Sekuritas and Trimegah Securities.