In order to strengthen its treasury services offerings, Bank Muamalat has concentrated its efforts on building its internal infrastructure with particular focus on its human resources as well as product range. The newly bolstered treasury division now plays a central role in supporting the bank’s business strategy through its asset liability management activities (ALMA) to maintain the efficiency of the balance sheet while also being responsible for generating revenues.

To safeguard Bank Muamalat’s balanced and sustainable growth as well as ensuring the availability of funds, the bank’s Asset Liability Committee took the strategic decision to prioritise asset growth and fund raising from third party funds. This is specifically from retail funds given the lower cost of funds and comparatively superior stability for the most competitive levels of profit sharing. The issuance of the Subordinated Mudharabah Sukuk has further maximised profitability through supporting expanded financing activities while excess liquidity is effectively managed through various government sukuk investment instruments for optimal returns. Such measures have seen the bank’s investment portfolio double over the course of the year with revenue reaching over 103 billion in 2012.

The next stage of Bank Muamalat’s treasury division is to grow its customer base among corporate retail clients for treasury products. Having been appointed as the Indonesian government’s selling agent for a retail sukuk series, Bank Muamalat used this as a springboard to further penetrate the market which swiftly yielded a 15.13% increase in fee based income for foreign currency transactions in 2012. The treasury division is continuing this positive growth trajectory through making treasury transactions more widely available in branches across the country supported by the streamlined Muamalat Core Banking system while also intensifying its activities in the Islamic money markets through establishing new money market instruments.