Amechi Ogbonna
Managing Director of Jaiz Bank Plc, Mr Usman Hassan, has assured the bank would continue to target an organic growth strategy that would enable it have presence in all 36 states of the country following its recent national banking license granted it.
Usman who spoke in Lagos earlier in the week noted that despite opening shop about five years ago as a regional Islamic bank, it has expanded its total network to about 39 branches, four of which now operational in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre.
According to the boss of Nigeria’s premier premier non-interest (Islamic) bank, the last five years of operation has given its management more insight into opportunities that abound in the nation’s non- interest banking space hence the decision to go national .
He also promised the bank’s over 100000, shareholders that dividend of their investment would begin to flow in from 2020, following its impressive performances, over the years, stressing the institution had made history as the first non-interest bank to break even after three years of operation.
Usman however, said that despite the impressive performance for the nine months ended September 30, 2019, it would not be able to pay dividend for the current financial year.
Details of Jaiz Bank results showed it posted total income of N7.670 billion in 2019, up by 49.2 per cent from N5.141 billion in the corresponding period of 2018. Profit before tax jumped by 510 per cent to N1.471 billion, compared with N241 million in 2018, while profit after tax grew fast by 643 per cent from N161 million to N1.205 billion in 2019. Deposits from customers rose from N33.24 billion to N57.1 billion, while total assets grew from N99.86 billion to N151.94 billion.
Usman said the results further demonstrated the bank has the capacity to grow sustainably in line with its strategic vision of becoming the leading non-interest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.
The Jaiz bank boss also said the management is determined to be in every state of the country, to meet the financial services needs that address hspecific needs of customers irrespective of their faith and religion.
Justifying the national banking license granted the bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Usman saidthe institution does not represent any particular religion but exists to meet the needs of a diverse customer categoies cutting across faiths and nationalities across the country.
“We are the face of a new concept in banking. One important information we will continue to emphasize is that this product is not a religious product. It is open and available to all, irrespective of their faith or religion. It is a mode of financing that tries to address human needs directly by providing goods and services on a payment basis different from conventional banking that we know. Literarily, that is what non-interest or Islamic banking is doing anywhere in the world. It is about providing financing to people who cannot afford to buy directly with their own resources at a time. So, rather than give money, we provide the services and goods people are looking for to meet their consumption needs or businesses. We have seen from our operations so far that all manner of persons do come to to to us and we do business with them. This, I believe, is what we have been doing,” Usman said.