Indonesia's BCA plans to launch sharia bank in Sept, Reuters

JAKARTA, May 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia's third-largest lender, PT Bank Central Asia Tbk, is planning to launch a shariah bank in September following its acquisition of a small bank last year, its vice president director said on Tuesday. BCA, which has a market capitalisation of nearly $7.9 billion, acquired Bank UIB in October last year and planned to convert the small lender into a sharia bank as part of its effort to tap a growing Islamic banking segment, reports Reuters.
BCA's vice president director, Jahja Setiaatmadja, said all necessary procedures with the central bank were due to be completed soon to launch the bank. "We've done the fit and proper test last week and if Bank Indonesia can complete the process soon then we expect that the conversion into sharia bank can be completed in September," he said. "We're targetting loans to the micro-, small- and medium- enterprises segment," Setiaatmadja said when asked about the sharia's segment, adding it would inject 100 billion rupiah as the paid up capital, the report added.