Shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc on Wednesday approved the sub-division of the bank’s authorised share capital from 15 billion ordinary shares of N1 each to 30 billion at 50 kobo per share.

This formed part of the decision at the bank’s Extra-Ordinary Meeting in Abuja, which also ratified approval of the banks’ shares in the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

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.

“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 anytime demand your share and buy it either within the country or outside the country.”

The chairman said that the bank was a non-interest institution that did not prioritise making profit as part of its mandate.

“ 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 of the bank, Mr Hassan Usman, said, “ once listed, existing shareholders could trade their shares while those new investors could also invest by buying the shares.

“We want the general public to benefit from the bounties of profit opportunities available so that we can all grow together as one big Jaiz family.

“As you may be aware, few months ago the bank’s Rights Issue of 2.9 billion ordinary shares was successfully subscribed.

“We want to call on everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to own shares in the bank.

“We have over 30,000 share holders today both locally and internationally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 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. (NAN)