Islamic Perspectives on the Implementation of Wadiah Products at Islamic Banks in Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of Wadiah Product at an Islamic Bank in Indonesia. Bank Syariah Mandiri is the first government bank that operates according to the Islamic Syariah system in Indonesia. The Bank Syariah Mandiri provides wadiah products to serve its customers who are concerned with a free interest product in a financial transaction. This study was carried out with a qualitative method, and the data were gathered through in-depth interviews with the bank staff and manager, observation, and written material. The results of this study show that wadiah application in Bank Syariah Mandiri of Palu runs in accordance with the Syariah principles of Islamic Law. The results of this study also show that costumers lack knowledge regarding how to access the wadiah product. Then the Muslim community preferences in wadiah savings products is still relatively small because Muslim society perceived the profit sharing at the Islamic bank is lower compared to similar products from conventional banks.Further study may focus on Islamic banks customers perception of the wadiah product.