Jaiz Bank Plc has marked a decade of pioneering Islamic banking in the country with a promise to leverage its market acceptance and continue to innovate in order to consistently deliver superior customer experience in the dynamic business environment.
This, the bank is optimistic, will help it maintain its clear leadership in the non-interest banking space.
Jaiz, the pioneer non-interest Bank in Nigeria, commenced operations on January 6, 2012, with three branches in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.
The bank, in a statement, said despite paying the huge costs associated with pioneering, it was able to break even within the first three years of operation, which was unprecedented at the time.
It said that from a modest Balance Sheet size of N12 billion in 2012, it closed the 2020 financial year at N278 billion (Total Assets & Contingents) and grew all other key performance indices exponentially over the years.
The statement further noted 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 & Gas, General Commerce, etc.
“Within this period, the Bank was rated by the Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA), assigning it an investment grade rating of BBB. Most recently, the Bank also got an upgrade from both Agusto and GCR to BBB and BBB- respectively with stable outlook. Besides, Fitch also did its first rating of this promising institution, and it came out at the same impressive level.
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,” the statement read in part.
It also quoted the Managing Director/CEO, Hassan Usman to have said: “…the journey was much like a roller coaster – you experience some degree of fear at the onset, but subsequently excitement takes over when the carriage takes off and you feel that euphoria of defying the odds of gravity. After the take-off, momentum is gradually gathered and stopping the coaster becomes not an option, the wisest thing to do is making every jerk and movement worthwhile and impactful. That is what we did, we lived every moment, learning from each mistake, supporting our customers through thick and thin while pressing on – despite the absence of essential non-interest banking enablers – to pioneer a nascent sub-sector that is now burgeoning with players and accolades.
“We are happy to pioneer an industry that was not there; creating confidence for other people to come in; and we believe that we’ve done that very well. The year 2022 is special to us as it marks a decade of progress in our Islamic banking journey and I am extremely fulfilled for the opportunity of leading the team for a larger part of the journey. From a very humble beginning in 2012, the Bank has successfully developed a remarkable brand that is iconic both locally and internationally.
“You may recall in 2021, analysts at Nairametrics adjudged the Bank as the fastest growing among the listed banks in Nigeria (39.3% growth in Total Assets, based on December 2020 results) as well as the 4th most efficient based on Return on Equity (17.4%). According to the international annual ranking by “The Asian Banker,” (A Singapore-based leading provider of strategic intelligence on the financial services industry), Jaiz Bank ranks 36th on the World’s strongest Islamic Banks as at 2021. We remain true to our Vision by building the second largest non-interest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa in just 10 years.”
Usman commended all the bank’s stakeholders for their tremendous support and expressed great delight on the giant strides being taken by the bank.
