Indonesia wants to learn Sharia banking audits from Saudi Arabia

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – With the largest number of Muslims in the world and the increasing awareness to implement the Islamic law in daily life including in the banking system, Sharia-based financial institutions are now rife in Indonesia.

However, Islamic banking and financial institutions in the country still have to learn much about the audit mechanism that is in accordance with the system based on the Islamic law.

To improve the auditing ability, the Indonesian Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the Royal Australian Audit Bureau signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on financial supervision cooperation here on Thursday.

“Saudi Arabia has Islamic financial institutions and such institutions are on the rise in Indonesia. We want to learn from our colleagues how to conduct an audit of Islamic banking and financial institutions,” Chairman of the Indonesian Supreme Audit Agency Agung Firman Sampurna.

In addition, Indonesia also wants to learn about more effective audit mechanisms for oil and gas exploitation activities from Saudi Arabia, which is one of the major oil and gas industrial countries in the world.

Meanwhile, President General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Audit Bureau Hussam Alangari stated that the Indonesian Supreme Audit Agency has exceptional financial supervision capabilities.

“I want to say that I feel happy with the signing, so we invite BPK RI officials to visit Saudi Arabia in accordance with the time they have,” said Hussam.

Reporting by Indonesia Window