The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, the pioneer Non-Interest bank, Mallam Hassan Usman has said the bank’s humble beginning with N3.5billion deposit base in 2012 has grown to N60 billion in 2017.
He also said that with a share capital of N5 billion in 2012, the bank has further grown it to N15 billion in 2017, with about 20,000 shareholders with branches that have now extended to South-South, South-West and all the geopolitical zones in the north.
Mallam Usman who spoke at an interactive session with Finance Correspondents in Abuja noted that Nigeria’s economic outlook in 2017 is far better than that of 2016.
Speaking further on the outlook for 2017, he opined that if the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues with the current interventions in the foreign Exchange, maintaining crude oil prices at a level not below $50 per barrel, improvement of power supply and federal government deliberate policy on capital spending will all stimulate the economy to a large extent.
“ I am happy to inform you that the pioneer non-interest bank has been listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) to enable us have the desired visibility and credibility”, he said.
The Jaiz Bank boss noted that its initial hiccups were adequate trained manpower, lack of awareness and an environment devoid of infrastructure, stressing however “that people have now come to terms with the fact that non-interest banking is not about creed but diversification of financial services industry. Many thought it would be charity or semi-charity organization”.
On whether the 2016/2017 foreign exchange crisis has any effect on his bank, Mallam Usman admitted that it had greatly affected its operations because customers who needed forex for their businesses were disappointed, pointing out that the bank in question did not borrow in dollars neither did it lend to firms in the oil and gas sector of the economy.
