Jakarta, May 12, 2017 — The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has been promoting heavily Sharia financial products and services through various information dissemination activities, in order to raise public awareness and encourage the public to use such products and services.

"The OJK considerably supports Sharia finance development through its efforts. One of them is a series of activities carried out as part of the I Love Sharia Finance campaign. For the campaign, the OJK together with the Sharia financial industries have planned many programs to disseminate information about, and communicate Sharia finance to the public. These programs will be implemented in cities across Indonesia, like this Sharia Finance Fair (KSF) in Semarang," OJK Chairman Muliaman D Hadad said when opening the event, which was held at the Paragon Mall, Semarang, on Friday (May 12).

The fair, according to Muliaman, was an OJK strategy to bring the public closer to the Sharia financial industries. It also served as a platform for giving information to the public about the merits of Sharia financial products and services, and providing them with first-hand experience of interacting with Sharia financial institutions in Indonesia.

The event is held as a Sharia financial industry expo, where Sharia banks, the Sharia capital market, and Sharia non-bank financial institutions—Sharia insurance, financing, and guarantee companies and pawn shops—participate to introduce Sharia financial products and services to the public. The participants give on-site education about the advantages of Sharia financial products and services, which have been "as good, as complete, and as modern" as the conventional ones.

Muliaman said that given the growth rate, the Sharia Finance industry would enjoy sustainable development, since the industry's role would become even more important for the national economy, in order to satisfy public demands for Sharia financial products and services and meet the national development's needs.

"There is a mutual relationship between the Sharia financial industry's development and public welfare. We believe that when the public receive higher education, their needs for Sharia financial products and services will increase," he said.

As of February 28, 2017, total assets of Indonesia's Sharia financial industry (excluding Sharia shares) reached IDR 897.1 trillion, which were made up by contributions from the Sharia banking industry, Sharia non-bank financial institutions and the Sharia capital market that worth IDR 355.9 trillion, IDR 90.08 trillion, and IDR 451.2 trillion, respectively. The total amount, compared with that of the financial industry, indicated a market share of 5.18 percent.

Indonesian Sharia Financial Industries' Assets (in trillion Rupiahs)

In 2016, KSF was organized for five times in various Indonesian cities: Jakarta, Surabaya, South Tangerang, Aceh and Makassar. For 2017, the OJK has planned to host the fair in three cities, namely Semarang, Cirebon and Jakarta.

The KSF 2017 in Semarang is held at the Paragon Mall, from May 12 to 14, 2017 and 40 Sharia financial industry players, comprising of 19 Sharia non-bank financial institutions, 13 Sharia banks, and eight investment managers and securities companies, take part in the event.

Besides Sharia financial products and services exhibition, the fair will also see the signing of a cooperation agreement between Sharia financial industries, and hold talk shows about the industries and various competitions.

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For more information:

Ahmad Buchori, Department Head for Non-Bank Financial Industry (IKNB) Supervision 2B Tel: 62 21 2960 0000 E-mail: buchori@ojk.go.id  www.ojk.go.id