Jaiz Bank Plc, Nigeria’s pioneer Islamic bank, said its balance sheet grew to N300 billion at the end of the 2021 financial year from N12 billion when it started operations 10 years ago.
Managing Director of the Bank, Mr. Hassan Usman, told journalists at a briefing on the bank’s 10th anniversary in Abuja, yesterday, that the bank was able to break even within three years of its operations and has since then maintained a growth trajectory.
According to him, the bank has recorded an average of 30 per cent growth Year-on-Year and a 40 percent profitability Year-on-year; while increasing its branches from the initial three to the current 45.
He stated that the bank invested N75 billion in providing about 3,000 houses and another N60 billion in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, with beneficiaries cutting across urban and rural areas.
Jaiz Bank Grows Balance Sheet To 300bn
His words: “Jaiz as a pioneer has proved that the concept of non-interest banking is workable even in the Nigerian environment. We have more interests now in this sector by individuals and corporate organizations. Even the public sector has embraced the non-interest business model, in order to derive the benefits associated with the system.
“Jaiz Bank started with only three branches in 2012. Today, we have more than 45 branches spread across Nigeria. In the first year, the balance sheet was just N12 billion. By the end of 2021, our balance sheet had grown to N300 billion.
“At the beginning, we were more of a corporate banking in terms of our bank’s offering, but now we have diversified the products offering from corporate to SMEs and even in some cases we experimented with micro because of our mission of making life better for Nigerians.
“Over the years, we have experimented with the people at the bottom of the pyramid, especially women, by providing equity type of financing for them to develop their small businesses so that the household income would improve and the welfare of the family be appreciated, with the children of those families benefiting as we see better enrolment of those children in school.”