Not BI, This is the First Bank Established in Indonesia

Dream - The first bank established in Indonesia is actually not Bank Indonesia (BI). It is also not Bank Nasional Indonesia (BNI), which is now the oldest commercial bank in the country.

The first bank in Indonesia is Bank Courant en Bank Van Leening, established in 1746. This bank was established during the era of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). 

According to the official website of Bank Indonesia, this bank had the task of providing loans with gold, silver, jewelry, and other valuable items as collateral.

Then in 1752, Bank van Courant was improved and became De Bank van Courant en Bank van Leening. 

The Predecessor of Bank Indonesia

Due to this change, the bank started providing loans to VOC employees so that they could place and circulate their money in this institution. This was done with the promise of interest as compensation.​

However, after about 66 years, Bank van Courant en Bank van Leening was closed in 1818 due to financial crisis.​

Ten years later, De Javasche Bank was established in 1828 as the predecessor of Bank Indonesia.

At that time, the Dutch government granted octrooi or special privileges to De Javasche Bank (DJB) to act as a circulation bank. 

As a circulation bank, different from Bank van Courant, DJB had the authority to print and circulate Gulden currency in the Dutch East Indies region.

​Octrooi was periodically renewed every 10 years. In total, DJB had seven renewals of octrooi. De Javasche Bank was the first circulation bank in Asia.​

Islamic Banking Assets Grow Higher than Conventional Banks

Dream - Deputy Minister of SOEs II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo noted that Islamic banking assets grew by 16 percent. This achievement is higher than conventional banks, which grew by 7.7 percent.

"Islamic bank assets grew double than conventional bank assets," said Kartika in a press conference at the BSI Global Islamic Finance Summit in Jakarta, Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

One source of asset growth is the decision to establish PT Bank Syariah Indonesia (Tbk), which is the result of a merger of three state-owned Islamic banks, namely Bank Mandiri Syariah, BRI Syariah, and BNI Syariah. BSI's assets are reported to reach 60 percent of the total Islamic banks in Indonesia.

According to Tiko, BSI's nickname, BSI is able to become a catalyst and is expected to soon enter the wholesale banking business. "Because BSI's future program is entering wholesale," he said.

Meanwhile, BSI's President Director Hery Gunardi noted that the assets of the 2-year-old bank reached Rp306 trillion by the end of 2022.

"At the end of 2022, BSI has reached a new milestone with Rp306 trillion in assets and serving 19 million customers," he said.

Not only in terms of business, but BSI also became the largest contributor of corporate zakat, reaching Rp141 billion.