Bank Muamalat introduces plan for young people

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Muamalat, Indonesia's first Islamic bank, introduced a special savings plan yesterday for young people as part of the national savings campaign to be launched by President Soeharto tomorrow.

"The savings plan, called Trendi, offers depositors Islamic life insurance called Takaful," the bank's president, Zainulbahar Noor, said yesterday.

He said that Bank Muamalat, along with Bank Dagang Negara, Bank Tabungan Negara and Bank Sewu, has been appointed by Bank Indonesia, the central bank, to manage the nation-wide savings campaign for school children, university students and youths.

"Any pupil, student and youth, regardless of their religions, can deposit their money without any administration fees by showing only their identity cards," he said.

A depositor can start with Rp 5,000 (US$2.20) and deposit as little as Rp 1,000 with each visit," said Zainulbahar at the launching of plan.

He said the accounts won't earn interest but rather a profit sharing schedule, which is allowed under Islamic law.

He estimated that the profits offered for Trendi savings will be about eight to nine percent per annum.

Depositors are free to deposit and withdraw their money at any time, said Zainulbahar.

He added that 100 depositors every year will be eligible to win scholarships of Rp 50,000 per month.

The Trendi plan will also offer prizes to those depositors with the highest academic rankings in their schools or universities.

Arief Thamrin, president of Takaful Keluarga, Bank Muamalat's subsidiary operating in life insurance, said his company will provide a premium of Rp 1,000,000 to the families of any Trendy depositors that die by accident.

Zainulbahar also said that every Trendi depositor will receive a discount card valid at various department stores, bookstores and shopping centers. (kod)