...October 14, 2020 SINGAPORE (S&P Global Ratings) Oct. 15, 2020--S&P Global Ratings said today that the potential merger of the Islamic banking subsidiaries of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk., PT Bank Mandiri (Persero), and PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. will boost Sharia financing in Indonesia. The three state-owned banks signed a conditional merger agreement to merge PT Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM) and PT Bank BNI Syariah (BNIS) into PT Bank BRISyariah (BRIS), which will be the listed surviving entity. The merger is subject to approval from the authorities. Although the merger details are still being formulated, we understand that Mandiri is likely to have a larger stake in the merged entity given BSM will contribute over 50% of the merged entity's assets. We therefore expect the merger to be positive for Mandiri's business profile. The effect on the other two banks will be broadly neutral given the relatively small contribution of Sharia assets and their smaller stakes in...
