CBN grants Jaiz Bank national licence

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted a na­tional licence to Jaiz Bank and a waiver on the reduc­tion of its liquidity ratio from 30 per cent to 10 per cent. The licence will enable Jaiz Bank operate in any part of the country.

Speaking during a courtesy call by the Managing Director of Jaiz Bank Plc, Mr. Muhammad Nurul Is­lam, and other top management staff of the bank in Abuja, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Al­haji Umaru Ibrahim, said the reduction of its liquidity ratio from 30 per cent to 10 per cent will create a level-playing field as well as engender healthy com­petition.

He tasked the bank to imbibe sound corporate gov­ernance practices and guard against insider abuses, stressing that the success of the bank would go a long way in poverty alleviation and promoting the growth and development of the poor who are mostly engaged in small and medium scale businesses throughout the country.

Ibrahim admonished the management of Jaiz Bank to embark on intensive public awareness and financial education on the benefits of non-interest banking practice in the country to improve its patron­age.

According to him, profit and loss banking is a mu­tually rewarding partnership among all participants in the Islamic banking in line with its business practices.

The NDIC chief informed the team that the corpo­ration had developed a non-interest banking deposit insurance fund framework in May 2015, which is de­signed to create a level playing field to provide depos­it protection for depositors involved in non-interest banking and protect them against any possible losses, in addition to training its staff in Malaysia in this spe­cial area of banking.

He said the corporation was in the process of ap­pointing a committee of experts to advise it on all is­sues relating to Deposits Insurance Scheme (DIS) for non-interest banking, insisting that investment port­folios would require collaboration among CBN, Debt Management Office (DMO), Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as Infrastructure Conces­sion and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to develop Sharia permissible investment products.