BSN eyes retail and gold to push beyond mortgage-heavy roots

It is wading downstream from mortgages to lend to developers, hardware stores, and the likes.

PT Bank Syariah Nasional (BSN) is aiming to expand beyond mortgages by forming an ecosystem spun off from its traditional housing-focus core.

The Indonesia-based shariah bank, which was spun-off from parent Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), is looking to delve into more downstream parts of the industry like developers and hardware stores, said Arga M. Nugraha, Vice President Director at BSN.

“We are strengthening our footing in terms of retail banking, transaction banking, ecosystem play of the housing sector,” Nugraha told attendees of the Indonesia leg of the Asian Banking & Finance and Insurance Asia Summit 2026 held at Jakarta, Indonesia.

About 92% of BSN’s portfolio consists of mortgages. In Indonesia, shariah banking has seen financing grow by 12% to 14%, faster than its non-shariah counterpart’s 10% to 11%. BSN itself has seen its financing portfolio grew 22% this year alone.

BSN is interested in expanding its retail play, as seen in its introduction of a new model and the roll-out of a new mobile banking platform in February. The app has processed IDR22.7b in transactions in just three months, Nugraha said.

They are also exploring the possibility of offering digital gold to customers through its app in the future, Nugraha said. Today, only KBMI 3 banks can deal with digital gold savings.

“So we're actually advocating for that right now in the hopes that the FSA will allow smaller banks to be in the business as well,” he said.

They are also banking on their digital services to expand its customer base without having to build physical locations. They are targeting markets or regions that have large Muslim populations or have shariah-only laws.

“I think we are in the middle of a great revival of the Shariah spirit. We are seeing a lot of resurgence for Islamic preference, Muslim preference,” Nugraha said, noting the rise of halal preference for food, fashion, and tourism.

BSN currently has 1.2 million savings accounts and 300,000 financing accounts. Its new app has amassed 170,000 users since launching three months ago.

BSN’s goal is to be an everyday shariah bank for everyone, Nugraha said.