Indonesia prays for Islamic banking boom

JAKARTA: Indonesian teacher Nina Ramadhaniah hopes for “blessings from Allah” by opening a sharia bank account—the sort of pious customer the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority country is praying for as it launches an Islamic finance drive.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, has a Muslim population of around 225 million but this huge number of faithful has not translated into success for sharia banks, institutions required to do business in line with Islamic principles.