After ending many financial years without paying dividends, Jaiz Bank has assured its shareholders that come next year, dividends will be paid out.

If this assurance comes true, it will be the first ever dividend payout to the shareholders of Nigeria’s pioneer Islamic bank in its eight years as a bank.

Speaking at the seventh Annual General Meeting of the bank, Jaiz Bank Plc Chairman, Dr Umaru Mutallab, noted that the board of the bank had recommend the payout of dividend for the 2018 financial year, “but the regulators felt otherwise.”

According to him, “the board had tried to recommend the payment of dividend for the reporting period but the feedback from regulators meant it was not possible until we improve upon some specific performance benchmarks such as our capital buffers and reduction in non-performing risk assets.”

In order to meet the 2020 assurance that the bank gave the shareholders, Mutallab maintained that “this year, we are working assiduously towards ensuring that the bank meets all those regulatory requirements for dividend payment in order to meet our aspirations of dividend payout to shareholders.

Speaking on the bank’s financial performance in 2018, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Office, Hassan Usman told shareholders that “in 2018, income after tax rose by 55 per cent from N537m in 2017 to N834m in 2018. The bank also recorded increase in income generating assets by 37 per cent from N50.64bn in December 2017 to N69.1bn by December 2018.”

On the outlook of the bank and the demands of shareholders for dividend payout, Hassan Usman said, “We are poised to creating a responsible business that best meets our customers’ views and a culture where our employees put customers first. If all things work out well we hope to pay dividends in 2020.”

Going forward, Hassan Usman said the bank will “remain ever committed to the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.”