Jaiz Bank set to offer collateral-free loans to SMEs

Jaiz Bank Plc has said it is awaiting approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to launch new financing products that will allow small and medium-scale enterprises to access loans without traditional collateral, with assessments to be based on borrowers’ cash flows instead.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr Haruna Musa, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking with journalists in Abuja after the bank’s 14th Annual General Meeting.

“We have developed an SME-friendly product just awaiting the approval of our regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria. Once that is achieved, we will be doing cash-flow lending. We’ll assess you based on your actual cash flow, either with Jaiz Bank or with any other bank, and then we can lend to you depending on the capacity that you have,” he said.

Musa said the model would ease the collateral burden on small businesses through loan guarantees and signed GSI mandates, adding that the bank plans to make the process fully digital.

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“We intend to make it a straight-through process whereby, from the comfort of your office or your home, you can use your mobile device to access our financing seamlessly without having to come to the bank,” he stated.

He also announced that shareholders had approved plans to raise an additional N150bn in capital, which he said would be executed in two or three tranches after regulatory clearance. The capital raise is expected to begin between July and September.

Musa said the fresh funds would support financing in agriculture, export trade, manufacturing, and renewable energy, and that the bank would also channel part of the capital into food security and agricultural value chains.

On the bank’s financials, he disclosed that total assets rose by about 19 per cent to nearly N1.3tn in 2025, while customer deposits grew by more than 24 per cent to over N1.12tn. Profit before tax increased by 28 per cent to N31.24bn during the period.

Jaiz Bank currently operates 55 branches across 26 states and plans to open 10 more before year-end, with the goal of reaching all state capitals within two years. Musa said the bank also has ambitions to expand beyond Nigeria within the next five years.