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Jaiz Bank has projected that the flagship non-interest bank will post a gross income of N5.41 billion in the fourth quarter with average pre-tax profit per average sales expected at 13.03%. The bank predicted that profit before tax will be N705.37 million while profit after tax is expected to close the three-month period at N634.83 million. Jaiz Bank Managing Director Hassan Usman said overall vision of the bank was to become the leading non-interest financial institution in Sub-Saharan Africa. The bank wants to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs), grow with them and support them not only for profit making but to ensure the country achieves real growth. He noted that while the bank would continue to expand its operations across the country by opening more branches, it will significantly leverage on technology and bring the semi-banked and unbanked population into the formal economy.

The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank Hassan Usman has said the bank would soon begin the disbursement of the $20m facility for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The bank had in March signed the agreement with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector to finance SMEs with $20m (N6.1bn). Usman said the bank would soon begin the disbursement, adding that the fund would be disbursed before the end of the year. He said the bank had commenced a five year strategic plan to provide better services to its customers. For example, the bank had increased its visibility in Lagos by opening more branches and plans to extend to other regions of the country as well.

#Nigeria’s Jaiz Bank recorded significant growths in key performance indicators in 2017, making an average of a double of previous profit on every unit of transaction. The pre-tax profit-margin doubled from 5.5% in 2016 to 11% in 2017. Gross earnings rose by 40% from N6.18 billion in 2016 to N8.10 billion in 2017. Gross profit grew by 34% to N6.705 billion in 2017 as against N5.003 billion in 2016. Jaiz Bank had recorded another milestone on February 9, 2017 as the first non-interest financial institution to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Jaiz Bank Managing Director Hassan Usman attributed the impressive performance of the bank to the support from the board, management and staff of the bank. He assured that Jaiz Bank would provide a new future of wide-ranging financial services to all Nigerians.

Jaiz Bank and Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD) have signed a $20 million line of agreement to finance the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of Nigeria. The financing deal covers sectors such as industry, communications, technology, health, manufacturing and agriculture. Hassan Usman, Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, signed on behalf of the bank while Okan Altasil, the Regional Office Director of ICD, signed for the corporation. The ICD management said the reason for extending such financing to some Nigerian banks was because SMEs have crucial role to play in a country’s growth and development. The ICD had previously extended a total of $120 million line of financing facility for the development of SMEs in Nigeria.

Jaiz Bank, Wema Bank and SunTrust Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and secured $50 million from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) for lending to SMEs. Under the terms of the MOU, SunTrust bank will get a financing of $10 million for lending purposes, Jaiz bank $20 million and Wema bank $20 million. Jaiz bank Managing Director Hassan Usman expressed his optimism about disbursement of the fund and said the bank has been supporting SMEs since it was created five years ago. According to Segun Oloketuyi, the Managing Director of Wema Bank, the funds will help bolster the Bank’s vision of building a sustainable retail sector by supporting micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

In this interview the Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman, speaks about Islamic banking in Nigeria. One of the main challenges is the high operating cost of banks, but Jaiz Bank managed to grow to a national bank. Starting in 2012 with only three branches, the bank expanded to 30 branches all over the country. The Nigerian government recently issued a N100bn Sukuk bond and Jaiz Bank was part of the process from the inception. The proceeds of the Sukuk will be dedicated to building roads across the country. Sukuk can ensure that projects are managed properly and there is no diversion. In terms of profitability, Jaiz Bank made profit in 2015 and even in 2016 in spite of the difficulty witnessed in the economy. According to Usman, 2017 looks even better because the fundamentals have started to improve and so the bank's performance will follow the trend of improved fundamentals.

Acccording to Jaiz Bank CEO Hassan Usman, more West African countries and companies are likely to adopt Sukuk to finance infrastructural development and corporate growth plans. He said the envisaged passion for Sukuk issuance in the near future could make the non-interest capital market grow bigger and faster than its conventional counterpart. Nigeria recently issued its maiden sovereign Sukuk and successfully raised N105bn for its N100bn Sukuk, raising optimism on the depth of the market. Usman added that Islamic banking had a lot of potential due to the economic growth in many West African nations supported by improving fundamentals, growing domestic demand and stronger regional integration.

Many West African countries and companies may fall back on Sukuk to finance infrastructural development and corporate growth plans. Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman, said there could soon be a frenzy of the facility issuance in West Africa. Nigeria recently issued its maiden sovereign Sukuk. It successfully raised N105 billion for its N100 billion Sukuk. Usman added that with a population of about 329 million people, the emerging middle-class segment of the region is expected to boost demand for retail banking, takaful and Islamic funds. According to him, as the market for Islamic Finance develops in Nigeria, each segment of the market will provide potential career paths for young and middle-level professionals. He also noted it might take some time because the ecosystem is currently narrow with only one full-fledged bank, one window operation, one capital market operator and two Takaful operators.

After the first tier commercial banks in Nigeria, Jaiz Bank was the most active stock on the exchange with volumes of 7,179,550 with a total value of N4,682,686.00. The increased activity is indicative of swinging sentiments in favour of the stock. But the stock has underperformed the All Share Index (ASI) in the last six months as it returned a negative 45% while the ASI returned 40%. Jaiz Bank managed to grow its Gross Income in the first half year ending June to N3.25 billion from N2.56 billion. Income from Finance Investment grew 19.82% to N2.95 billion from N2.46 billion while Sukuk leapt 198.3% to N293.35 million from N98.35 million. Abdulfatah Ahmed, the Kwara State governor highlighted there was a lot of scope for growth for the bank and Islamic banking in Nigeria. Hassan Usman, the bank’s managing director, said he was optimistic about the future of the bank and therefore urged everyone irrespective of their religious background to key into the model.

Jaiz Bank CEO Hassan Usman said that #Nigeria would become one of the countries to successfully offer Sovereign Sukuk in local currency. The Federal Government floated around N100bn and according to him, the offer was to last for five days. Hassan said these on the sidelines of Jaiz Bank’s Customers Forum in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital and also revealed that the institution’s capital base had reached N15bn. He said that Islamic finance worldwide was novel, being in existence for about 40 years compared to conventional banking, which had lasted for over 300 years.

#Nigeria's Jaiz Bank has grown its capital base in five years from the initial N5 billion to over N15 billion. The bank disclosed that it is growing at an annual rate of 30% which makes it one of the strong players in Nigeria’s banking industry. CEO Hassan Usman said the management of the Bank grew Deposit Base from Zero to over N60 billion, and Asset Base increased from zero% to N40 billion. He added that the bank plans to grow its network through opening of additional new branches across the country. Jaiz Bank currently has a staff of 500 and has concluded plans to open new branches in Jos, Nassarawa, and Minna, as well as additional branches in Lagos. Commenting on the plan by the Debt Management Office (DMO) to float Sukuk, Usman described the move as a welcome development which is expected to go a long way in boosting the operations of the bank.

The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman, has assured that the bank’s loan profile is very healthy. Jaiz Bank, he noted, was not heavily or significantly exposed to the oil sector, but the bank’s exposure is to real estate. While justifying the listing of the bank’s shares in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), he said Jaiz Bank’s activities remain transparent and open. Jaiz Bank has challenges like any growing institution. One of such challenges has to do with perception, as many people thought it was a charity organization. Other challenges include the enabling environment like infrastructure for non-interest banking like liquidity instruments. Another challenge is the limited number of qualified trained manpower to manage Islamic banking. Inspite of these challenges, Jaiz Bank has proved itself to be sustainable. It has grown into a national franchise with branches in South and South West and is also opening more branches in other parts of the country.

In #Nigeria Jaiz Bank has accumulated funds and is now ready to massively invest in Sukuk to finance in specific infrastructure projects in the country. Managing Director Hassan Usman said that the bank, being an Islamic bank, could not invest in interests yielding instruments and therefore had to wait until Sukuk was ready. He added that there are off-shore funds held by those who share similar non-interests philosophy of Jaiz Bank which could be brought into the country. Usman said that from a capital base of N5 billion, the bank has grown its capital base to about N50 billion. From a deposit of N3. 5 billion, it has grown to about N60 billion. From the initial three branches as a Regional Bank, Jaiz Bank has grown into a National Bank with 30 branches across the nation.

Jaiz Bank is now a public quoted company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. To commemorate the listing, Jaiz Bank’s Executive Management, led by Chairman Dr Umaru Abdul Mutallab, were honoured with a closing gong ceremony to officially close trading on the bourse for the day. Hassan Usman, Jaiz Bank's CEO noted that the listing of the bank’s shares was a fulfillment of an earlier promise made at inception of the Bank. He added that the listing would elicit public confidence that Non-Interest Banking provides alternative model that contributes to the socio-economic development of the country. Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said this listing would promote liquidity for the bank, enhance its value and increase its transparency.

Jaiz Bank added N36 billion to the total market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The bank announced the official listing of its ordinary shares of N29.4 billion of 50kobo each at N1.25. The chairman of Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab, debunked insinuation that the bank was designed to only service the Islamic community, saying it was a bank for all Nigerians interested in doing ethical business. Jaiz Bank commenced operations in 2012 with a N3 billion deposit base. Since then it had a growth rate of 30%, with a current workforce of 600 staff across 30 branches across the country. On the future outlook of the bank, CEO Hassan Usman said Jaiz Bank’s prospects are bright, adding that the projection for the next five years indicated a gross revenue of N16 billion by 2021.

Shareholders of Jaiz Bank unanimously voted for its shares to be listed and traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The bank disclosed that this development will now open windows of opportunities for numerous individuals who desire to own shares in Jaiz Bank. Chairman of the Bank, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab, said the Bank’s authorized Share Capital has been sub-divided from 15, 000, 000, 000 Ordinary Shares of N1.00 each to N30, 000, 000, 000 Ordinary Shares of 50k each. Also speaking at the event, CEO Hassan Usman said once listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, existing shareholders can trade their shares while new investors can also invest by buying the shares.

#Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has challenged the management of Jaiz Bank to strengthen its corporate governance to face the current economic challenges of the country. Umaru Ibrahim, managing director of NDIC, gave the advice to the newly appointed managing director of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman. Ibrahim advised the bank to step up its public enlightenment efforts in order to increase deposits' mobilisation. He also noted the bank's challenges in investing its excess liquidity due to the absence of Sharia compliant investment windows. He noted that while a lot of countries had tapped into the Sukuk investment window, Nigeria was still lagging behind in this respect.

Hassan Usman has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Jaiz Bank. The decision of the Board of Directors was reached after a rigorous selection exercise. Hassan Usman takes over from Mahe Abubakar who has acted as MD since December 2015. Mr. Usman had previously acted as Managing Director in 2013. The Bank recently obtained a National Operating License from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This will enable it to spread across all the 36 states of the Federation.

Jaiz Bank Plc has announced the appointment of the General Manager in charge of the Bank’s Business Development Group, Hassan Usman as the Acting Managing Director. Hassan is a trained Chartered Accountant and a seasoned Banker with international experience. The appointment follows the resignation of the Managing Director, Muhammed Mustapha Bintube after almost 10 years of service. Jaiz commenced operations on the January 6, 2012, in three locations, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna with additional branches opening soon in Maiduguri, Gombe and Katsina.