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The International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria(ICCN) is set to admit about 11 new members at its 16th annual general meeting billed for Lagos this month. ICCN secretary-general, Mrs. Olubunmi Osuntuyi, said in a statement that the new members are: Anu Eso & Co., Enterprise Transport & Logistics Ltd., Heritage Banking Company Ltd., Jaiz Bank Plc., Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian Ports Authority, Norfolk Partners, Onwuamaegbu & Co., Rand Merchant Bank Ltd., Sola Ephraim-Oluwanuga & Co. and Strachan Partners. The statement said the AGM which would be sponsored by Sterling Bank Plc would feature the traditional Post- AGM Talk to be delivered by Bismarck Rewane.

Jaiz Bank Plc, has declared a profit of N157.7 million for the financial year ended December 2014. By this, the bank has broken even after three years of operations as the first and only fully fledged non-interest bank in Nigeria. Chairman of the bank, Dr Umaru Abdul Mutallab said the profit was a feat considering that there was no platform yet for the bank to make income from its treasury management activities due to the absence of Sharia complaint liquidity instruments in the market. He therefore called for a national Sukuk bond, that would give them a wider range of investment opportunities. Shareholders of the bank called on the management to work seriously towards recapitalising it to fast-track its expansion to other parts of the country.

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Jaiz Bank on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to empower Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The objective of this collaboration is to design a cheap, affordable and sustainable financing product that will empower SMEs to expand their business operations, Alhaji Umar Masari, Director-General, SMEDAN said. According to him, the roles of SMEDAN in the MoU is to sensitise prospective beneficiaries to the benefit of the collaboration. The bank will facilitate MSME access to Federal Government’s MSME Development Funds, among others.

Muhammad Nurul Islam, managing director/chief executive officer of Jaiz Bank, explained that wholesale transparency in the bank’s regular operations at all levels has enabled it to move away from huge losses to break-even point in record time. However, there are also challenges for the bank, such as the need for a liquidity management instrument that is non-interest banking compliant to manage our excess liquidity. Islam also said that by 2016 end, the bank will have improved capital to enable it go outside the shores of Nigeria. So in the next five years, Jaiz Bank will go International and expand its business base.

The Representative of the Jaiz Bank in Nigeria, Dr. Mizanur Rahman, has disclosed the plan of the bank to extend its services to Kwara and Lagos states. He lamented that due to limited scope within the country, the bank lost about N1 billion but reiterated its hope that it would do well in 2015. Rahman made the statement at the jointly organised thematic workshop on Development of Islamic Banking in Africa at the Alhikmah University in Ilorin. The workshop was jointly organised by the Research and Training Institute (IRTI) in Saudi Arabia, the University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University.

Jaiz Bank Plc has introduced some specific small and medium enterprise (SME) products to empower small-scale businesses and teeming customers in the grassroots. Unveiling its corporate products and services at the on-going 35th Kano International Trade Fair at the weekend, Jaiz Branch Manager, Mallam Mansur Imam pointed out that besides its conventional products like savings account (Mudaraba), lease and acquisition finance (Ijara-Wa-Iqtina) and corporate and trade financing (Murabaha), the SME was uniquely conceived to finance market driven products and encourage growth of local enterprise.

Nigeria's Jaiz Bank Plc has financed an executive aircraft as part of its programmes to venture into the aviation sub sector. The aircraft, which has been delivered to the customer, Aviation Resource Service Limited, was financed under the bank’s Ijarah wa iqtina. Under this model, the bank and the Aviation Resource Service Limited are co-owners of the aircraft based on a partnership arrangement whereby ownership is gradually transferred to the customer as it pays down. The general manager of Aviation Resource Service Limited, Tanko Yakubu, said that the company was a little bit skeptical at the initial stage of their discussion with Jaiz Bank but were proven wrong.

Jaiz Bank Plc has increased its branch network to fourteen with the opening of the Kano Kabuga branch within Bayero University. A statement from the Head, Corporate Communications of Jaiz Bank, Idris Salihu said more branches would come on board before the end of the year. Salihu also stated that the bank has raised its capital base from the initial N5 billion it started with in 2012 to over N11 billion and is currently working on increasing it by way of right issue. The Bank commenced operations with three branches in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states in January, 2012 and soon added branches in Gombe, Maiduguri, Katsina and Gusau (Zamfara state), Bauchi. It has three branches in Abuja and four in Kano with the addition of Kabuga branch.

The chairman of the Board of Directors of Jaiz Bank Plc, Umaru Mutallab, has charged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other regulatory authorities in the banking sector to urgently consider developing Sharia-compliant liquidity management instruments for non-interest Islamic banks to invest in. Moreover, the process needed to be expedited to create a level playing field for all the participants in the financial service sub-sector including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that so badly needed non-interest loans for their businesses, he added. Meanwhile a communiqué issued by Maidah Foundation, a network of Nigerian Muslim women entrepreneurs, prayed the federal government to strengthen the role of Islamic organisations in the creation of funds for the Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Nigeria’s Jaiz Bank Plc has recorded a 141 percent increase in total assets, from N14 billion ($86 million) in 2012 to N34 billion ($209 million) at the end of the bank’s 2013 financial year. Customers’ deposits experienced a similar exponential surge to N21.9 billion ($134.3 million) - a 567 percent increase over the previous year. Last week, the bank announced that its social responsibility unit, Jaiz Foundation gave N10 million ($61,000) relief materials to victims of Boko Haram bombing in Borno State. Jaiz hopes to get a National operating license before the end of the year. Besides, the bank hopes to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the next few years to avail more Nigerians the opportunity to invest in the bank.

Shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc yesterday approved the bank's bid to get a national operating licence in order to establish its presence across the country. It also emerged that the bank has grown its assets base to N34 billion as at the end of its 2013 financial year. This represented an increase of 141 per cent compared to the N14 billion recorded in 2012. The bank hopes to acquire the National Operating License before the end of the third quarter, to enable it operate in all the 36 states of the federation. Chairman of the bank, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab, said that in no distant future, the company would be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Jaiz foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Jaiz Bank, has donated relief materials worth N10 million to victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Borno state. The items donated included 200 bags of grains, 1,600 pieces of clothing materials for both men and women, 660 gallons of groundnut oil, among others. Borno state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, assured that the materials will be distributed to victims of Boko Haram insurgency, especially during the Ramadan. Shettima assured of the state government's readiness to continue to identify with the bank and called on other institutions and corporate bodies to emulate Jaiz and Dangote foundations.

Jaiz Bank Plc has appointed Mahe Abubakar as the Executive Director in charge of Business Development. Until his appointment, Mahe was a General Manager/ Group Zonal Head of Zenith Bank Plc in charge of the Northwest region. He has a Master Degree in Business Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and he is a qualified Dealing Clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Mahe has attended several trainings in and outside Nigeria. His appointment has been confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Jaiz Bank will boost its net worth of investment in Nigeria to N22 billion by July, according to the bank's Managing Director Mr. Muhammed Islam. The bank's present investment stands at N15 billion and will rise to N20 billion by the end of June by sponsoring projects worth N7 billion in the period. The Jaiz bank boss explained that most of the investments were in home-financing, automotive, industrial sector, imports and exports among others. He disclosed that the bank has a deposit base of N25 billion and a working capital of up to N35 billion. Islam said the bank would soon secure licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to expand its operations to all state capitals in the country, to enable more customers access its services.

Jaiz Bank has increased its investment portfolios by N7.5bn within the last two years. The investments represent an increase of 380 per cent from the N1.9bn in January 2012 to the current N9.4bn. In terms of profitability, the bank grew its total earnings by more than 750 per cent during the year. Jaiz has expanded its operation from just 3 branches to 13 branches since 2012. It plans to operate in every state capital of Nigeria before the fifth year of operation. In December, 2013, the bank submitted its application for a National Banking License to the Central Bank of Nigeria. Hopes are that this will come through before the end of the second quarter.

Jaiz Bank Plc Shareholders' Fund grew by 53 percent to N10.1 billion in 2012 from about N6.45 billion in the previous year, according to its 2012 financial statement. Also, its depositors’ funds stood at N3.29 billion while total investment in the period under review amounted to N1.96 billion. Gross earnings during the period stood at N79.560 million. However, the bank recorded an operating loss of N1.07 billion in 2012. Its total assets climbed to N14.1 billion, from N5 billion in January 2012. The bank's Chairman, Board of Directors, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab said that necessary steps had been taken to ensure the bank obtained a national license aiming to establish its presence in all states of the federation within the next five to six years. The strategies for realising the set targets will include aggressive deposit drive, investment in the real sector of the economy and also in agriculture.

Corruption remains the biggest obstacle hindering Nigeria from achieving its economic potentials, according to the Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Muhammad Nurul Islam. Speaking in a keynote lecture at a one-day forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), Islam said corruption had often given way to a situation where the wrong people had been given leadership responsibilities. Moreover, he said FICAN had a critical role to play in exposing illegal financial transactions. The aim of the FICAN platform was to promote a mechanism for reviewing and analysing activities in the country's economic sphere.

Jaiz Bank has appointed Muhammad Nurul Islam from the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited as its new managing director/chief executive to steer its affairs and better position the bank. He takes over from Hassan Usman, who had been acting managing director of Jaiz Bank since April. Nurul Islam has vast knowledge of non-interest Islamic banking experience garnered for over three decades. He holds Masters in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka in 1982, with a major in finance and has attended several professional training and seminars. Moreover, he is a member of many professional associations, including Life Member, Association of the Bankers’ Bangladesh.

Nigerian Jaiz Bank has increased its branch network to ten, with the commissioning of its Katsina branch this week by the state governor Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema. The bank now has branches in Gombe, Maiduguri, Katsina, and an additional branch in Kano, making two branches in the state. The bank has also added two branches in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. The branches are located at the National Assembly and Wuse District. Commissioning the bank yesterday, the governor promised to identify and support the operations of the bank.

Nigeria's Jaiz Bank is currently devising a strategy, leveraging on its relationship with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which will enable it invest and help facilitate financing of the nation’s power sector. Representatives of IDB are expected in Abuja for advanced talks. $3.4 billion is currently being sort by government to bridge the yawning infrastructure gap in the electricity transmission sub-sector, considered to be the weakest link in the power value chain. Last month, minister of power, Chinedu Nebo, suggested that Nigerian banks should consider forming consortiums to provide the much needed funding. Jaiz Bank as an entity is on its own not able to finance such large ticket transactions, so leveraging on this relationship with IDB is crucial to being able to invest in the power sector.