Jaiz Bank Plc, the first and most profitable Islamic Bank in Nigeria has invested in excess of N75 billion in the agriculture value chain in ten years of existence.
The Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Mr Hassan Usman disclosed this during a media interaction in Abuja as part of the activities to mark its ten years.
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He said Jaiz Bank has invested strongly in the agricultural and small businesses space in the last 10 years.
“When you look at agriculture, in the last five years, we have financed agriculture to the tune of N75 billion. If there is one leading bank in terms of financing in the rice value chain, including the new rice mills, Jaiz is one of the leading banks in that area” he said.
According to him, Jaiz Bank’s “SMEs portfolio has also grown significantly. Over the last 10 years, we have done more than N60 billion to SMEs only. We have created facilities for more than 20,000 individuals. So you can see our impact in just a small period.”
He also said another area the bank has impacted is housing financing.
“One of the areas that we have impacted significantly is in the housing delivery to Nigerians. Between us and our partners over the last 10 years, we have delivered more than 3,000 houses,” he said.
The MD said Jaiz Bank is not losing sleep over competition adding that more entrants in the industry show the concept of Islamic banking is gaining traction in Nigeria.
“For competition to come into the non-interest banking means it is working. We must have more players for the industry to be successful,” he said.
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