Indonesia banks on syariah finance boom

Jakarta

INDONESIAN teacher Nina Ramadhaniah hopes for "blessings from Allah" by opening a syariah bank account. She is the sort of pious customer that the world's most-populous Muslim-majority country is praying for as it launches an Islamic finance drive.

Indonesia, South-east Asia's biggest economy, has a Muslim population of around 225 million but this huge number of faithful has not translated into success for syariah banks - institutions required to do business in line with Islamic principles.