Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has challenged the management of Jaiz Bank plc to strengthen its corporate governance in order to hedge against the current economic challenges in Nigeria’s banking industry.
Umaru Ibrahim, managing director/CEO, NDIC, gave the advice during a courtesy call by the newly appointed managing director of Jaiz Bank, Hassan Usman, and some of his top management staff. Ibrahim said good corporate governance was very crucial to the bank at a time of planning to expand its operations following its recent issuance with a national banking licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a statement signed by Birchi H. S, head, communication and public affairs, the NDIC boss also advised the bank to be careful in its expansion plans in order to ensure seamless service delivery to its customers.
According to Ibrahim, as a pioneer in non-interest banking, the bank should partner its peers such as Stanbic IBTC and Sterling Bank, which have non-interest banking windows in order to explore more Sharia compliant instruments.
He also drew the attention of the bank to the interest being shown by Muslims and non-Muslims to its banking products and advised the bank to step up its public enlightenment efforts on the benefits of its products and services in order to increase deposits’ mobilisation.
Ibrahim also noted the challenges being faced by the bank in investing its excess liquidity due to the absence of Sharia compliant investment windows, such as the “Sukuk”(project financing) and other Islamic bonds and portfolios. He noted that while a lot of countries had tapped into the “Sukuk” investment window, Nigeria was still lagging behind in exploring such Shari’a compliant investment opportunities.
He urged the Jaiz Bank’s management to collaborate with the Bankers’ Committee, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Debt Management Office (DMO) and other relevant agencies toward the introduction of “Sukuk” and other Shari’a compliant investment products in order to be competitive.
In his response, Usman assured the NDIC that the bank had established and maintained high standards of corporate governance that were driven by checks and balances to ensure that insider credits were not only performing but also kept within the approved regulatory limits.
Usman emphasised that apart from the bank’s board oversight, its Advisory Committee of Experts, also looked into every aspect of the bank’s operations and transactions to ensure compliance with financial regulations and Islamic principles.
In terms of the challenges of investing the bank’s excess liquidity, he informed the Corporation that the bank had made submissions to the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Federal Ministry of Finance in order to expedite the process of developing Sharia compliant investment instruments in Nigeria.
On casualisation, Jaiz Bank boss said the bank was not unmindful of the negative consequences of the trend. He disclosed that majority of its five hundred workforce were permanent staff, adding that the bank only outsourced a few aspects of its workforce such as security staff and cleaners.
