The Ups and Downs of BCA Syariah's Journey: From Assets of Rp 607 Billion to Nearly Rp 20 Trillion
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Since commencing operations on 5 April 2010, PT Bank BCA Syariah has undergone a dynamic journey that could be described as full of ups and downs. The bank, which resulted from BCA’s acquisition and conversion of PT Bank Utama Internasional Bank (UIB), has recorded fairly positive growth over 16 years as one of the players in Indonesia’s Islamic banking industry.
Deputy President Director of BCA Syariah, John Kosasih, recounted the journey of BCA Syariah from its entry into the Islamic banking industry to the present day. According to him, the desire to enter the Islamic banking industry had emerged quite some time before operations began.
“Actually, our desire to enter the Islamic banking industry was far before that. We wanted to go there because we saw the potential that the majority of Indonesia’s population is Muslim, so the potential should be very large,” John explained during the ‘Hijrah Finansial’ event titled ‘Islamic Banking as a Solution for Inclusive and Sustainable Finance’, held online by the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI) on Friday (10/4/2026).
John revealed that before BCA Syariah entered the Islamic banking industry and began operations in 2010, a survey was conducted first to gauge the level of inclusivity, awareness, and penetration. The survey was primarily aimed at BCA customers.
“What was interesting was that at that time, 10–15 percent (of respondents) expected it to be Sharia-compliant. Then 10–15 percent said conventional was fine. And it turned out that the largest group, around 70–80 percent, were rationalists, meaning that products, services, security, and convenience in transactions must be well fulfilled,” he clarified.
The survey also asked BCA customers about their willingness to join BCA Syariah. According to John’s explanation, many BCA customers were interested in joining BCA Syariah.
From the survey results, BCA Syariah became more mature to be established, assuming there would be many interested parties. From mid-2009 to early 2010, BCA Syariah also displayed the BCA logo to attract customer interest.
“In the old days, there was a term ‘Bank Capek Antre’ (a playful acronym for BCA meaning ‘Tired of Queuing Bank’). So, we thought that if there was a BCA logo in front of BCA Syariah, people would queue at the door. Our expectations were very high. But it turned out that reality was not like that. So, expectations did not match realisation,” John revealed.
According to John, the use of the BCA logo actually became a challenge in itself at that time. Because public expectations were also high regarding services, security, convenience, and the completeness of products or features that were considered equivalent to BCA. However, BCA Syariah was still very new at that time.
“When it first started, even customers who had joined tried to withdraw. We were in doubt. We sought help from Bank Indonesia to invite major customers so they would be willing to stay with BCA Syariah. We provided socialisation about Islamic banking and built trust so they would not leave BCA Syariah,” John said.
John explained that at that time, BCA Syariah truly experienced difficult times. The amount of assets, financing, and number of customers were still minimal, requiring hard efforts to build public trust.
“In June 2009, BCA Syariah’s total assets were only around Rp 607 billion. Financing was only Rp 360 billion, and funding Rp 500 billion. At that time, there was a rush, so the bank’s profitability was also negative. We only had about 5,000 accounts, around 1,700 debtors, a network of about 13 offices, and a total of 190 employees,” he clarified.