From Uche Usim, Abuja
Jaiz Bank, Nigeria’s premier non-interest bank, has grown its balance sheet to over N300 billion N12 billion when it started operations a decade ago.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Jaiz Bank, Mr Hassan Usman, made the disclosure at a media parley held at the bank’s corporate headquarters in Abuja at the weekend.
According to him, the bank worked hard to explain its nature of banking since Islamic banking remains unfamiliar territory to Nigerians.
Usman added that the bank, which commenced operations with only three branches in 2012 and tagged a regional financial institution, has swelled to 45 branches nationwide at a 30% growth rate.
He said its profit before tax has grown by an average of about 40 per cent over the last four years with its customer base reaching almost a million across all sectors.
“We have just reached ten years and we are going to have our tenth AGM on the 16th and it will be preceded with a dinner to celebrate our reaching 10 years and the milestones that we have achieved, so we are inviting you to grace that occasion and be part of the celebration’, he told the financial journalists.
“For the last two years, we have been consistently paying dividends, though small, it is competitive. During our first dividend, we paid about N800m but from the second one, each year we have been paying a billion.
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According to him, “the journey has been satisfying for us. We have worked with partners to create more than 3,000 units across Nigeria, we have done financing to SMEs to the tune of more than N60 billion, with this small number of years, we have also financed more than 4,000 corporates and more than 5,000 SME customers.”
He said the business activities of the bank have boomed significantly in the past years making it now have a total of 45 branches in parts of the country, adding that in no time an additional five branches would come on stream.
He assured that plans were underway to establish five new branches in the northern and southern parts of the nation, adding that the bank ventures into various business activities and shares its profits fairly with its shareholders and customers
He noted that the current positive earnings were undoubtedly very reassuring to all stakeholders and the public, stressing that the development underscores the role of Jaiz as the pioneer Non-Interest Bank in Nigeria, as well as the industry leader.