Nigerians have Adopted Interest-Free Banking.

Over 100,000 micro, small, and medium-sized businesses have profited from the non-interest banking concept, which Nigerians have eventually accepted after some early reluctance (MSMEs).

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Additionally, its operations have allayed concerns about a rumored Islamization agenda raised by its detractors. Hassan Usman, the managing director of Jaiz Bank Plc, made this statement yesterday while briefing reporters on events planned to celebrate the bank’s 10th anniversary in Abuja.

Usman said: “The islamisation claim was one of our major challenges when we opened our doors for operations 10 years ago, I believe the claim stemmed from the lack of basic information by staff and customers as well as the critics. But the demonstration of our products has helped us to let people know that Islamic banking is about trading.

“We are into setting standards and leading the non-interest banking, especially in Nigeria. When you bank with us, you are free to identify the assets you want to invest in for you to get our loan guarantee. Unlike the conventional banks where you are giving loans or overdrafts to buy the assets, we usually take commercial risks with customers. And those who understand our fundamental advantages have refused to go back to the conventional banks.”

Answering questions on the bank’s impact in the last 10 years, Hassan Usman explained that it has successfully grown from three branches at inception to over 45 branches across the country.

“We provide equity funds for women to establish; expand their businesses. We also have over 100,000 of them on Katafu Insurance; all these value-added services have made the bank strong in the last 10 years.

“We have impacted mostly on housing delivery for over 30,000 Nigerians, we have invested about N75 billion in the agricultural sector, especially rice and other farm-related products. Our Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) portfolio has grown more than N6 billion,” he said.