Jaiz Bank Plc, Nigeria’s pioneer non-interest ban, has marked its 10 years of operations and growth, with a reassurance to sustain growth and impact more positively on all stakeholders.
Jaiz Bank commenced operations on January 6, 2012 with three branches in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.
Hassan Usman, its Managing Director, said despite paying the huge costs associated with pioneering, the bank was able to break even within the first three years of operation, which was unprecedented at the time.
According to him, from a modest balance sheet size of N12 billion in 2012, the bank closed 2020 financial year at N278 billion and grew all other key performance indices exponentially over the years.
He pointed out that through its’ unique value proposition, Jaiz Bank has, within a decade, made remarkable impact in empowering women, driving financial inclusion and supporting various strata of businesses in the real sector of the economy, agriculture, real estate, construction, oil and gas and general commerce among others.
He added that within the 10-year period, the bank was rated by the Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA), assigning it an investment grade rating of BBB and most recently, the bank also got an upgrade from both Agusto and GCR to BBB and BBB- with stable outlook. Besides, Fitch also did its first rating of the bank and came out at the same impressive level.
He said that it was therefore not surprising that the bank gained international recognition as it won the Most Improved Islamic Bank award for 2020 and 2021 consecutively from the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA), among other accolades.
Independent