Indonesia is an Islamic finance giant waiting to be awakened, and events from recent years have indeed stirred the world’s most populous Muslim nation awake. Under the leadership of President Joko Widodo, the government has upped the ante raising its Islamic finance game to a whole new level propped up by a slew of new regulations and initiatives. Armed with a strong political will, the Republic has a firm grip on its title as a world-class Sukuk contender, issuing more sovereign Sukuk than any other nations globally.

And the Southeast Asian giant, with over 225 million Muslim citizens, is resolute in broadening its Islamic finance repertoire beyond Sukuk: equipped with a new 10-year Islamic finance national masterplan, a dedicated national Shariah finance committee headed by the president himself and a new Hajj fund agency, Indonesia is working on elevating other segments of its Islamic finance industry including banking, insurance and asset management. All these while the Republic is concurrently liberalizing its financial sector to usher in foreign dollars onto its shores.

Nevertheless, the country recognizes that there are several bumps in its journey to realizing its true Islamic finance potential. These include getting the corporate sector to actively participate in Islamic finance, potential hiccups in spinning off Islamic banking and Takaful windows over the next few years as well as bureaucratic inertia and the absence of more efficient tax laws.

But Indonesia is ready to take this challenge head-on: gathering regulators, senior decision-makers and international players, IFN Indonesia Forum 2018 will continue the phenomenal success of 2017 as the foremost event to discuss, debate and discover emerging opportunities, issues and potential solutions for Indonesia’s Shariah finance industry.