Jaiz Bank grows Q1 profit by 176 percent

Jaiz Bank, Nigeria’s leading non-interest bank, has reported a 176 percent increase in its first quarter Post tax profits.

The report contained in the Bank’s unaudited financials submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, shows Profit After Tax increased from N73.8 million to N203.7 million.

The bank also recorded significant increases across key financial parameters. For Instance, Gross Income from Islamic Financing transactions increased 24percent to N1.6 billion while Total Income settled at N1.4 billion against N1.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous month.

The increase in the bank’s revenue was driven mainly by the strong growth from Murabaha transactions. In Islamic finance, Murabaha is a sales contract in which a bank buys an item from a client for a predetermined profit over the cost of the item, then sells the item back to the client in installments. It is similar in structure to a rent-to-own arrangement.

Murabaha transactions recorded an increase of 76.3 percent to N794.4 million for the review period. Jaiz Bank’s total investment income also increased 59 percent to N79.7 million from N50.1 million while Total assets rose 34 percent to N78.7 billion from N58.7 billion in the same period of 2016 due mainly to an increase in Murabaha receivables and investments in Ijara assets.

Basic earnings per share remained flat at 0.01 kobo. Founded in 2003, Jaiz Bank is the only full-fledged non-interest bank in Nigeria with 26 branches in 14 states in the country. The bank was recently awarded a national licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate across all 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.