With the approval by the shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc on Wednesday, the bank will soon commence processes to be listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).
Jaiz Bank is a non-interest organisation set up in 2003/2004 as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to establish Nigeria’s first full-fledged non-interest bank.
It recently obtained an approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a National Operating Licence which would enable it to operate in the various states of the federation.
At the bank’ s Extra-Ordinary General Meeting in Abuja, shareholders approved the listing of its shares on the NSE and as well, approved the sub-division of the bank’s authorised shares from 15 billion ordinary shares of N1 each to 30 billion at 50 kobo per share.
The Chairman of the bank, Alhaji Umaru Abdul-Mutalab, said with the shareholders’ approval, the Memorandum of Association of the Bank would need to be altered to reflect the sub-division of the shares.
Abdul-Mutalab said the approval would attract more investors to buy shares, thereby widening the scope of share ownership in the bank.
He said: “We feel that there are a lot of people who have shown interest in the bank and we want to give opportunity to all prospective shareholders to come in and out as they want. That is why we feel that there is need to widen the scope of share ownership so that there is liquidity. Most investors do not want to just get on without coming out; we want them to feel that anytime they can come in, buy the shares and also go out.”
He said that listing in the stock exchange would attract not only national but also international investors.
“Once you are listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange, you are also in the various sites of a number of international organisations. They can at any time demand your share and buy it either within the country or outside the country,” he said.
According to the chairman, the bank is a non-interest institution.
“Non -interest does not mean that we are not making profit; we are there to make profit but we do that in such a way that it is not interest based. We do not charge interest but we recognise certain income which is legitimate because all our transaction has to be `Shari’a compliant. There are many non-Muslims who are shareholders with us; all they need to do is to agree to the fact that we do not deal in non-Shari’a products.”
The Managing Director/CEO of the bank, Hassan Usman, said, “Once listed, existing shareholders could trade their shares while those new investors could also invest by buying the shares. We have over 30,000 shareholders today both locally and internationally.