TAJBank posts 129% surge in half-year profit

TAJBank Limited, Nigeria’s fastest growing and technology-driven non-interest lender, has reported a 129 percent jump in its profit before tax to N6.019 billion for the first half of this year.

This is contained in its H1 2023 financial statements, which also showed that it now leads as the number one Tier-1 capital lender in the growing industry.

The bank’s financial performance surpassed analysts’ projections, especially coming just six months after it set an industry record of dividend payment to its shareholders for the 2022 financial year. The dividend payout came barely three years of its debut into non-interest banking space, a feat which was until then not achieved in the entire Nigeria’s banking space in over 100 years.

Earlier this year, TAJBank also made history as the first corporate entity in the country to list its first tranche of N100 billion Sukuk Bond on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

A further analysis of the bank’s latest audited financial statement showed that total assets rose from N212.021 billion in December 2022 to N335.017 billion at the end of June 2023, indicating a 58 percent increase.

Read also: Banks borrowing from CBN drops by 82.15% on increased liquidity

It’s gross earnings went up by 67 percent from N136.149 billion reported as at end of December 2022 to N227.031 billion by June this year.

Hamid Joda, TAJBank’s founder/CEO, told BusinessDay that the feat was due to some profound proactive strategies the management adopted to respond to emerging trends in non-interest banking. The deployment of the right resources, especially the well-trained personnel, which helped to meet customers’ expectations was also key to bank’s success, he said.

Further highlights of the bank’s financial scorecard within the period showed that its financing also rose significantly by 62 percent from N78.235 billion as at December 2022 to N126.725 billion in H1 2023; deposit base grew to N251.250 billion from N161.958 billion; while its total equity surged 88 percent from N19.135 billion to N36.706 billion.

“What I can say about TAJBank’s latest scorecard is that we have demonstrated that hard work pays. As we have maintained over the past three years, our interest is in our customers and we are pursuing this goal with all resources available to us to tell the whole world that TAJBank is the way to go in non-interest banking,” Joda said.

“To demonstrate our commitment to this customer-friendly corporate slogan, we are investing in world-class technologies and digital payment solutions in our services nationwide. Also, in pursuit of our non-interest financial inclusion drive, we have also opened five branches this year and plan to open more in other states in the next few months,” he added.

In his brief remarks, Sherif Idi, the bank’s co-founder/executive director, linked the successes to the bank’s shareholders and customers.

He said: “Our thanks goes to our growing customers and shareholders whose belief in our vision and capacity to drive TAJBank to the leading edge of market competition, has taken us this far.

“Let me assure them that TAJBank’s management and staff will continue to do its best to serve them better and protect their interests, which we value so much in all areas of operations.”