Mr Arviyan Arifin is an alumni of the Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung and began his career in banking in 1988 at Bank Duta. He joined Bank Muamalat when it was established in 1991 as the Head of Finance and rose through the ranks being recognised as the bank’s best employee in 1995. In 2009 Mr Arifin was appointed as the President Director of Bank Muamalat securing his position as a leading figure within Indonesia’s Islamic banking industry.
A lack of qualified human resources in the field of Islamic banking has often been cited as one of the main obstacles to realising the country’s full potential in the sector. Bank Muamalat has therefore taken a proactive and long-term approach to developing as well as retaining its human resources through cultivating a strong corporate culture that encourages loyalty as well as the key virtues of integrity and creativity within the principles of Islamic banking. Unique to the local industry, the majority of the bank’s senior staff members have been with the bank since inception and have also been the driving force behind its recent regeneration in order to realise the original vision of being the leading Islamic bank in Indonesia. This unrelenting entrepreneurial spirit serves to attract sought after talents to join the bank given the opportunity to follow exciting, well-structured career paths through the Muamalat Officer Development Program. The Muamalat Human Power System ensures effective recognition as well as reward of employee performance as well as gathering data for the on-going improvement of the organisation.
Developing the bank’s sales force has been crucial to accelerating its growth and financial performance. Recognising the importance of face to face interaction in the Indonesian market has yielded a significant rise in the number of sales personnel to 1,474 in 2012 from 1,104 in 2011 each of which undergo rigorous sales and product training. The impact of Bank Muamalat human resources strategy has been quickly apparent through increased product sales at both a retail consumer and corporate level signalling the bank’s readiness to move to the next stage of its development.
Bank Muamalat’s progressive and continuous training at every layer of the corporation has provided the foundations on which to launch its newly advanced IT infrastructure to improve customer service and enhance the bank’s competitiveness for sustainable growth.
The bank employs the Oracle Flexicube Universal Banking System which was successfully deployed in mid-2013 across all its branches and ATMs as well as head office in order to streamline the bank’s core business process, simplify operations and provide a more conducive environment for introducing more innovative shariah banking products. The strategic decision was made to introduce the system as it provides a fully scalable banking platform which can be developed further in lieu of the bank’s intensified growth and evolving customer base.
In line with the strategy to position Bank Muamalat as a transactional bank for both retail and SME clients, the newly deployed system has shortened transaction completion times as well as offering simulation tools to provide customers with personalised financial projections when choosing financing products. For greater flexibility, E-Muamalat is the bank’s new digital platform for internet banking while M-Muamalat caters to mobile banking customers to provide immediate access to transactional services. These platforms in addition to Virtual Account Muamalat, Mini Banking Muamalat and Cash Management Muamalat are making shariah banking products more widely available for Indonesian consumers as well as increasing the bank’s fee based income.
In 2013, Bank Muamalat was recognised by Global Finance Magazine as the Best Islamic Financial Institution in Indonesia for the fifth year in a row, as part of the magazine’s annual World’s Best Islamic Financial Institution Awards.
Bank Muamalat received the Best Islamic Finance Bank in Indonesia Award from Alpha Southeast Asia, an editorial publication for global investors. The bank has now won this award for a fifth consecutive year, and was recognized for their efforts in developing the local Islamic Finance market as well as their undertaking of significant notable shariah compliant transactions.
The Islamic Finance News Award for the Most Innovative Islamic Bank in the World was one of numerous awards received by the bank for accomplishments achieved during the course of 2012. The bank was also recognized as the Best Islamic Bank in Indonesia by Islamic Finance News and Indonesia Brand Champion by Marketeers.
