Indonesian Islamic P2P lender aims to raise $10 mln on new waqf platform

Photo: Ammana CEO Lutfi Adhiansyah speaking at the event announcing the P2P lender's new waqf giving feature on May 14, 2018 in Jakarta. Salaam Gateway/Yosi Winosa

JAKARTA - Indonesian peer-to-peer lender Ammana aims to raise 150 billion Indonesian rupiah ($10.7 million) this year on its new waqf platform to benefit endowment projects in the country, its CEO Lutfi Adhiansyah told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

The funds raised from individual donors on Ammana will be channeled to the 23 waqf institutions under the umbrella of the national waqf organization Badan Wakaf Indonesia (BWI).

The Shariah-compliant P2P lender is working with Islamic bank BNI Syariah to process the funds from donors. BNI Syariah is one of 15 banks authorized to receive cash waqf deposits.

Ammana is licensed by Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) and started operating in December 2017. Since then, it has distributed more than 2.5 billion rupiah in financing to small- and medium-sized enterprises from more than 420 individual lenders. It aims to raise 100 billion rupiah for SME financing this year.

The BWI is responsible for the development of Indonesia’s waqf sector. According to latest data from the body, as at the end of March 2016, there were a total of 435,768 waqf lands and properties covering 4.36 billion square meters. Hendri Tanjung, head of BWI’s waqf donor empowerment and development division, estimates the value of these lands at 2,180 trillion rupiah. This is based on average land price of 500,000 rupiah per square meter. Most waqf lands are found in rural areas.  

 ($1 = 14,030 Indonesian rupiah)

(Reporting by Yosi Winosa; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim emmy.alim@thomsonreuters.com)

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