Bukopin to buy into sharia, BPI

Sat, 03/08/2008 12:10 PM

JAKARTA: A share holder meeting Thursday approved publicly listed bank Bukopin's move to increase its ownership in Bank Persyarikatan Indonesia (BPI), as part of a plan to develop the bank's sharia unit.

President Director Glen Glenardi said Bukopin would buy two billion shares which would increase its ownership to 54.7 percent of BPI shares, more than double of its current 24.7 percent holding.

"Sharia development is part of our general business expansion. We are also focussed on disbursing credit to small and medium enterprises as well as developing commercial and consumer banking units," Glenardi announced at a press conference after the meeting.

After the acquisition, he said, BPI would convert its business from conventional to sharia banking, and would be merged with the existing sharia unit in Bukopin.

Glen added he was optimistic about prospects for sharia banking which currently only contributes around 2 percent of the total volume of the banking sector.

"Especially with Bank Indonesia targeting to increase the total volume to at least 5 percent by the end of this year," he said. -- JP

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.