IslamicFinance.de

Reputable Muslim scholars participated at Forum For Islamic Education & Welfare in Nigeria. The President of MUSWEN, Alhaji Sakariyau Babalola said the adoption of the Islamic financial system was growing in the country. Central Bank of Nigeria expert Dr. Bashir Umar said that Islamic finance was the way to finance infrastructure projects and had an integrated cooperative model which can eradicate poverty and enhance economic empowerment. He noted that financial inclusion was the key element to achieve inclusive development needed for sustainable growth in the country. Umar added that the presence of Islamic banking in the country has brought the unserved and undeserved members of the society into the formal financial sector.

The Nigerian central bank is setting up two new financial instruments to provide liquidity support for non-interest financial institutions. The new regulatory measures are designed for the proliferation of sukuk and takaful. Among the banks in Nigeria, only Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Jaiz Bank offer Islamic services. Jaiz, the only fully-fledged Islamic lender on the list, opened its doors in 2012. The Nigerian central bank stipulated several conditions for offering Islamic finance in October. Non-interest lenders must have a liquidity problem to be able to access a new discount window, which will offer it at zero interest, though lenders must post collateral.

In January 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria granted Jaiz Bank an approval in principle to operate as a regional interest-free bank in northern Nigeria. As a result of that, Jaiz bank became the first and the only full-fledged Islamic banking in Nigeria. Islamic banking is based on the principles of profit and loss sharing.

According to Mr. Muhammed Nurul Islam, a manager at Jaiz bank, the bank offers what is called a mudaraba (profit- and loss-sharing deposit). And Jaiz bank does not finance any customer without a purpose; he explain further that the primary means of Islamic finance are based on trading, and the bank trading activities are Sharia-compliant investments with the money deposited by customers. The customers and Jaiz bank share the risks and profits between them.

A Chartered Accountant and Tax Administrator, Mr. Bicci Alli has said that the federal government as well as states cannot shun Islamic financial instruments whose market is valued at over $2.6 trillion, because it has the capability to bridge the infrastructure deficit in the country.
The federal government is presently looking for financial and legal advisers and trustee firms to organise its first Islamic bond in the domestic market, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Monday. Nigeria is working on a debut sovereign sukuk but has yet to determine the size of a potential deal. Issuance of a sovereign sukuk is part of a plan by Nigeria’s debt office to develop alternative sources of funding and to establish a benchmark curve.

The Board of Directors of Jaiz Bank Plc has approved the appointment of Mahe Abubakar as the acting Managing Director/CEO of the bank. He succeeds Muhammad Nurul Islam, whose two-year contract ended on November 17, 2015.
Until his appointment, Abubakar was an Executive Director in charge of Business Development. A statement by the Head, Corporate Communications Department of the Bank, Idris Salihu described Abubakar as an astute banker with over 20 years cognate experience.
Before he joined Jaiz bank, he was a General Manager/ Group Zonal Head of Zenith Bank Plc in charge of the Northwest region. His wealth of experience is expected to impact greatly on Jaiz Bank's business development drive. Abubakar 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.
He had attended several trainings in and outside Nigeria including High Potential Leader: Accelerating Your Performance at Wharton School, Pennsylvania, USA; High Performance People Skills, London Business School; and Senior Management Programme, Lagos Business School.

Jaiz Bank Plc, Nigeria’s sole Islamic bank has announced the appointment of Mahe Abubakar as the acting Managing Director/CEO of Jaiz Bank Plc.
Until his appointment, Abubakar was an Executive Director in charge of Business Development.
A statement from the Head, Corporate Communications Department of the Bank, Idris Salihu said Abubakar is taking over from Muhammad Nurul Islam, whose two-year contract ends on the 17th of November, 2015.
Salihu said the Board expressed gratitude to Islam for his innumerable contributions towards the growth and success of Jaiz Bank Plc in the last two years.
Nurul Islam joined Jaiz Bank in November 2013 and turned it around from a negative balance-sheet to a positive result in 2014. “He came in on a Technical Agreement Jaiz Bank has with the Islamic Bank of Bangladesh to train and put the staff of Jaiz Bank through Islamic Banking because of their long experience in the subsector” the statement said.
Jaiz Bank is now operating in 21 locations from the 10 locations he met. Under Islam’s leadership, Jaiz also obtained Approval-in-Principle for a license from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate nationwide.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted a na­tional licence to Jaiz Bank and a waiver on the reduc­tion of its liquidity ratio from 30 per cent to 10 per cent. The licence will enable Jaiz Bank operate in any part of the country. The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Al­haji Umaru Ibrahim, informed that the corpo­ration had developed a non-interest banking deposit insurance fund framework in May 2015, in order to provide depos­it protection for depositors involved in non-interest banking, in addition to training its staff in Malaysia in this area of banking. The NDIC was in the process of ap­pointing a committee of experts to advice it on all is­sues relating to Deposits Insurance Scheme (DIS) for non-interest banking, he added.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised stakeholders in the financial services sector to adopt sustainable practices to strike a balance between economic development and the protection of the ecosystem. Speaking at a workshop on sustainable finance, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, represented by his special adviser on sustainable banking, Dr. A'isha Usman Mahmood, tasked the stakeholders to include environmental protection in addition to maximising profit and returns on investments. The apex bank hinged its advice on the positive nexus between environmental, social management and improved economic performance, which it said were being keyed into by financial institutions worldwide.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finalised plans to opt for a centralised approach to regulate Islamic Banking in Nigeria. The CBN will set up an advisory body,known as the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts, that will oversee the industry in Nigeria. The council will be tasked with ensuring all banking products that are designated as Islamic conform to sharia principles. The advisory body will comprise a minimum of five members who will serve renewable two-year terms, and are restricted from working for any other financial institution supervised by the central bank. Moreover, the Council will be guided by the principles of sharia governance issued by the Malaysia-based Islamic Financial Services Board.

While suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, is trying very hard to clear his name from the indictment of financial recklessness by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) and the presidency, his colleagues appear to be gradually distancing themselves from actions taken during his reign at the regulatory bank. A deputy governor at the bank and once a leading contender to replace Mr Sanusi, Kingsley Moghalu, said that his boss overstepped his authority. Mr. Sanusi, however, said that he believed that his suspension was hastened after he threatened to commission a special audit of all Nigerian banks to unravel the whereabouts of the missing $20 billion. Ironically, the FRCN report also indicted that Mr Moghalu and his colleagues were also recommended for dismissal and prosecution.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have announced plans to host the second International Sustainable Banking Forum in Lagos from March 3 to March 4. The forum will serve as a platform to share experience and build partnerships for sustainable banking in emerging markets. It is to attract policy makers from governments, multilateral development banks, financial institutions, civil society organisations and technical institutions. The IFC said that sustainable banking helped banks and financial institutions to understand better the benefits and risks of environmental and social impacts of their investments and loans.

The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi claimed that 20 billion US dollars had gone missing from the coffers of the NNPC. Two weeks later, he was been suspended and relieved of his duties. As a next step, he will probably be subjected to a formal probe and the EFCC will be called in to investigate his tenure of office. Femi Fani Kayode commends his immense courage for speaking out and exposing the monuemental corruption in the government that he once served and that has now decided that they no longer require his services. Kayode is convinced that if you speak truth to power and you take on the system, the system will fight back and they will attempt to destroy you and all that is yours. Yet at the end of the day, the only road that is worth taking is the road of righteousness and truth, and it is the only one that leads to lasting honour and glory.

This exclusive interview with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi took place after SaharaReporters followed the ousted CBN governor from the airport to a residence in Lagos shortly after his arrival from Niamey in Niger Republic following his ouster from office by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reportedly has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to form a new initiative called “Geospatial Mapping of Financial Institutions” that aims to increase the financial inclusion of low-income Nigerians. The new service will map all financial access points in Nigeria, including every microfinance institution and off-site ATMs, that Nigerians will be able to see online or on their mobile phones. The program reportedly will also enable the government and banks to determine whether certain regions of the country lack access to an appropriate number of financial services. BMGF will provide a monetary grant of an unspecified amount in order to pursue this goal. This new project is part of CBN’s initiative, the Nigeria Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS). The amount of monetary support that CBN has contributed to NFIS is unavailable.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed the Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Regulation to align with international best practise as well as other anti laundering and terrorism acts of the country. The CBN said it aims to ensure that with the cooperation of operators and stakeholders in the Nigerian financial sector, the reviewed Regulations meet international best practice and FATF requirements. In view of this, it called for contributions and comments from relevant stakeholders on the draft review prior to gazetting and release of the document to the industry. CBN has commenced full implementation of its gazetted Anti Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) Risk Based Supervision (RBS) framework enunciated in 2011.

The increased level of corruption and insecurity in the northern part of the country as well as mixed signals from power and petroleum sector reforms were likely to affect Nigeria's output performance, according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Moreover, the CBN for the ninth time in a row decided to leave the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) also known as the benchmark interest rate at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/- 200 basis points. It also maintained banks' cash reserve requirement (CRR) at 12 per cent and liquidity ratio at 30 per cent with the net open position at 1 per cent.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently released the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP) to promote sustainable way of doing business, especially in the banking industry. NSBP is anchored on nine over-arching principles. These were among others managing environmental and social risk in business decisions, safeguarding human rights and promoting women’s economic participation and empowerment. The Bankers’ Committee, as a commitment to sustainable development adopted NSBP, with particular focus on the development of agriculture, power and oil and gas.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has described China as a major contributor to the de-industrialisation as well as underdevelopment of Africa. He warned that with the growing interest of China in the continent, Africa was opening itself up to a new form of imperialism. Sanusi explained that China is no longer a fellow underdeveloped economy but an economic giant capable of the same forms of exploitation as the West. Trade between China and Africa was worth more than $200 billion in 2012. There has also been strong growth partly as a result of Asian demand for African resources.

The Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts (FRACE) were inaugurated by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria on January 10th in their headquarters. Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi pointed out that the establishment of the FRACE was part of the provisions of the bank's Guidelines aimed at regulating and supervising institutions which offer financial services compliant with Islamic commercial jurisprudence. FRACE will further ensure that products and services offered by the non-interest financial institutions meet the requirements for compliance to the principles underpinning their mode of operation.

There have been some particularly noteworthy events during Sanusi's leadership at the Central Bank of Nigeria. First of all, he expressed his criticism of the 7-point agenda of late President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua during the confirmation hearing at the Senate in June 2009 and received high publicity. After his appointment as CBN Governor, he found confirmation of his suspicions that some Nigerian banks were just giving high figures to give the impression that they were doing well. It is obvious that Sansui's passions include banking, quest for justice, philanthropy, insightful intervention in public discourse, and vigorous defence of his own opinions. He is a contradictory person since he is supervising a western type of banking which is not in the least compatible with the Islamic heritage.