IslamicFinance.de

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has set-up a special Strategic Preparedness and Response Facility worth $730 million to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID -19 pandemic. The IsDB Group stated that its entities will support the private sector in responding to the crisis and to minimise its impact on SMEs to sustain economic development. Additionally, the Islamic Cooperation for Development (ICD) shall provide $250 million of emergency funding mainly in the form of medium to long-term financing instruments to help affected sectors. ICD will also be aiding the private healthcare industry of affected member-countries to meet surging need for services, equipment and medicine.

#Nigeria's Jaiz Bank has recorded an impressive performance in the first half of this year. Gross earnings rose by 41% while pre and post-tax profits increased by 292% and 295% respectively. The half year report indicated that Profit Before Tax increased to N907 million from N231 million, while Net Profit after tax rose to N816 million from N207 million. The bank also grew its total income by 41% from N4.47 billion as at June 2018 to N6.31 billion at June 30th 2019. The balance sheet was further strengthened during the period with Total Assets rising by 33% from previous year end position of N108.46 billion to N144 billion. The above results further consolidated the growth trajectory of Jaiz Bank with a promise to end the year positively.

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.

Malam Hassan Usman, CEO of JAIZ Bank, perfected a partnership with Borno State government on the reconstruction of the state economy.
Usman said, that the fourth branch of JAIZ Bank had been opened in Nigerias Maiduguri about five years ago. And it has so far been getting the strong support of the state government since the branch was opened. So he was in Nigeria to explore the ways and means to reciprocate this kind gesture by the state government. His bank wants to help Governor Kashim Shettima in all his efforts to turn things around, especially now that peace and normalcy are gradually being restored in Maiduguri and the entire state.
JAIZ bank has launched a programme, which is being implemented since the beginning of the rainy season, to provide small-holder farmers with inputs. It is working with the coordinator as well as the private sector partner for the state to provide the seeds, fertilizer and other inputs to the partner. The idea of the state government is to start with 5,000 farmers, which it wants to empower at this initial phase of the programme.

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.

The Canadian fintech company Goldmoney has certified its gold-based financial products as sharia-compliant. The move illustrates how fintechs are broadening their footprint to include the core markets for Islamic finance in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Goldmoney provides financial products that are fully-backed by reserved gold. Goldmoney says it has more than 1.3 million users across 150 countries and administers $1.7 billion in client assets. Several other fintech ventures were launched in 2016. In February, a group of six Islamic lenders launched an internet-based investment platform to serve as a central marketplace to finance small and medium-sized businesses. Malaysia-based HelloGold has also launched a sharia-compliant online platform that uses blockchain. HelloGold is currently rolling out its product in Malaysia with plans to enter Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand later this year, and China by 2019.

Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II is expected to speak at an Islamic finance conference organized by the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF) at Bayero University, Kano. The Director of the institute, Binta Tijjani Jibril, said the conference would draw participants from within Nigeria as well as other countries such as the United States, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Indonesia and Egypt. She added that when the mayor of London came to Nigeria, he advised the government to embrace Islamic finance because of its benefits. Britain is competing with Malaysia to be the hub of Islamic finance in the world because they see it as good business not a religious issue.

The International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF), Bayero University Kano, has said the Sovereign Sukuk bond to be issued by the federal government in 2017 could be the solution out of recession. Prof. Binta Tijjani, the director of the institute stated this yesterday when she led the management team of the institute on a courtesy call to Media Trust Limited in Abuja.
Recall that initially, the Debt Management Office (DMO) on behalf of the federal government was to issue a Sovereign Sukuk bond this year but shifted it to 2017. The Sukuk Islamic bond is structured in such a way as to generate returns to investors without infringing Islamic law that prohibits riba (interest).

#Nigerian experts on Islamic finance met in Sokoto to discuss economic solutions, expressing the opinion that Islamic financing principles are the only alternative to end the current recession. The conference was organized by the Department of Management Science of Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and ran under the theme "Management of Nigerian economy: Issues and Perspective in Islam". Lead presenter Dr. Ahmadu Bello Dogarawa said applying Islamic principles in corporate governance would go a long way in addressing Nigeria’s challenges. In his keynote address, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said Islamic finance was no more peripheral to conventional finances as it was being operated in 75 countries, including western nations.

The federal government has urged Nigerians to embrace Islamic insurance as it can guarantee economic security in times of economic uncertainties. At the official launch of the book Understanding Takaful, the minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, described takaful insurance as a safety net for the community. The author of the book, Malam Zubairu Sulaiman Darazo, identified the interest rates inherent in conventional financial institutions as responsible for the low level of insurance penetration in Northern Nigeria.

Chairman, JAIZ Bank, Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab has denied that the institution is distressed and called for more players in the Islamic banking system in a bid to compete favourably in Nigeria’s financial sector. He made the call in Kaduna while donating cash and non-food items to two foundations by the JAIZ Foundation, saying the bank’s deposit base was increasing astronomically. Engr. Garba Muhammad, Mutallab disclaimed text messages in circulation that the bank was in trouble and assured that it was growing day by day. The bank has recently got approval in principle for a national licence to operate in all regions of Nigeria, he added.

Islamic banking has gradually been making inroads into the Nigerian banking system. But as a renowned Islamic finance and risk management expert and Registrar of the Islamic Institute of Accounting and Finance in Nigeria (IIAF), Dr. Busari Shaamsuddeen Akande said, there are grey areas in the strict practice of Islamic banking. Islamic banks, Dr Akande asserts, suffer from an identity crisis in practising the system. He delivered the paper titled, “Ethical Challenges and Product Innovation Crisis for Islamic Banks”at the South-South Summit on Islamic banking. The underlying fact of the paper is that the major crisis is that Islamic banking products are modelled after existing conventional bank products.

Jaiz Bank Plc, the non-interest Islamic bank, is set to commence operations in Ibadan, Oyo State before the end of this year as it moves to expand its operations in the South West, according to the Group Head, Public Sector of the bank, Mallam Ismail Adamu. He said all documentation and other logistics to this end were already being put in place. Adamu said the bank made a profit of N157m in 2014 and gave out up to N500m in charity through an arm of the bank called JAIZ Foundation. Chairman of the Zonal Committee for the Operation, Alhaji Lasun Sanusi (SAN), said the bank was aware of the teething problems it would face, expressing optimism, however, it would survive because of the success it has so far recorded.

President of the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fatih Society of Nigeria (NASFAT), Abdulahi Yomi Bolarinwa, speaks on how uneducated many Nigerians are on Islamic banking, resulting in uninformed comments on the financial practice. About his expectations from the incoming administration, he said the incoming government should work hard to improve the economy. The government should retool whatever Nigeria has in the power supply, work on its oil industry and explore other sources of income so that the country does not depend on one product - oil. NASFAT recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. The organisation teaches Nigerians to respect other religions and live in peace.

Mustafa Abubakar reported in Daily Trust / Allafrica on 28 January that, The Kwara Commercial Micro Finance Bank is to offering Shari'ah compliant services and was officially commissioned in Ilorin on 27 January.

The bank will also offer other conventional banking services such as Micro loan, pay plus, small business loan and agricultural loan. The director of the bank Olayinka Blackshear said the state Governor Dr. Bukola Saraki in partnership with other interests took the initiative to facilitate the incorporation of the bank, in a bid to boost grassroots economy.