Business
LOTUS Bank Bags ‘Best Ethical and Financial Inclusion Bank Of the Year’ Award
Cyril Ogar
LOTUS Bank, Nigeria’s leading non-interest and ethical financial institution, has been named the “Best Ethical and Financial Inclusion Bank of the Year” at the 2025 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.
The recognition underscores LOTUS Bank’s unwavering commitment to advancing ethical banking, financial inclusion, and sustainable prosperity across Nigeria. Since its inception, the Bank has consistently championed innovative non-interest banking solutions designed to empower individuals, MSMEs, and communities through transparency, partnership, and shared value creation.
Speaking on the award, the Acting MD of LOTUS Bank, Dr. Isiaka Ajani-Lawal, expressed gratitude to the organizers and reaffirmed the Bank’s mission to redefine banking through ethics and impact.
“This award is a reflection of our core philosophy that banking should be a force for good. At LOTUS Bank, we are intentional about building a system that not only provides access to finance but does so with integrity, empathy, and innovation. We dedicate this recognition to our customers, partners, and employees who continue to believe in our vision of ethical prosperity”, he said.
The BusinessDay BAFI Awards remain one of Nigeria’s most respected platforms for recognizing excellence and innovation within the banking and financial services sector. LOTUS Bank’s distinction in the Ethical and Financial Inclusion categories highlights its leading role in broadening access to non-interest financial solutions and supporting inclusive economic growth.
With a growing footprint across Nigeria, LOTUS Bank continues to introduce tailored products that reflect its values of Partnership, Prosperity, and Progress, while maintaining its focus on ethical investing and customer trust.
“We see this recognition not as a destination but as motivation to continue deepening financial inclusion and building a more equitable banking future for all,” he added.
Lotus Bank is committed to fostering financial inclusion and broadening access to innovative, non-interest products and services for the banked, unbanked, and under-banked.
Guided by its core values, LOTUS Bank strives to deliver a differentiated customer experience that supports businesses, empowers communities, and drives sustainable growth.
Business
TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank
Cyril Ogar
After five years of operations in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving non-interest banking (NIB) space, TAJBank Limited has become the biggest player in the NIB subsector based on its total assets and gross earnings values.
Disclosing this during his paper presentation on the key performance indices in the non-interest banking space over the past few years at a seminar organized by Leaders Corporate Services with the theme “Roles of Non-Interest Banks In SMEs’ Financing” for SME entrepreneurs yesterday in Abuja, an investment expert, Mr. Olabode Akeredolu-Ale, maintained that based on the non-interest banks’ approved financial statements for the half year 2025, TAJBank currently remained the biggest in terms of its total assets.
The expert, a chartered stockbroker, specifically confirmed that his recent investment researches on the NIBs and their financial performances showed that TAJBank, with its total assets rising to N1.017 trillion in half year 2025 up from N953.098 billion as of December 2024, which is about N53 billion higher than the nearest NIB’s assets, now ranked top in the banking subsector.
According to him, TAJBank’s gross earnings for H1 2025 also surged to N53.752 billion from N32.86 billion as of December 2024, representing a 64% growth, and higher than the nearest NIB’s gross earnings in the period under review.
This is even as he disclosed that on the NIBs’ earnings per share during the half year, TAJBank reported N61.36 kobo earnings per share, about 92% higher than the earnings per share of the next NIB during the period.
Akeredolu-Ale, who is also a chartered accountant, clarified: “The figures I am reeling out here on the NIBs are sourced from the banking and capital market regulatory institutions’ platforms, which anyone can access to verify.
“I am part of this event because of my research interest in non-interest banking and how the players in the subsector in Nigeria can help to leverage their competencies in innovation and ethical banking to support our MSMEs.
“Today, the MSMEs cannot access DMBs’ loans due to high lending rates and other inclement macroeconomic factors. This is where I think the NIBs have become very crucial to Nigeria’s economic growth.
“Overall, my findings on the NIBs indicated that they are all trying their best with non-interest loans to support entrepreneurs, particularly the MSMEs owners. I have advised those of them at this seminar to explore the cost-friendly financing options of the NIBs to grow their businesses by opening accounts with the NIBs”, the expert added.
Another speaker at the event, Benjamin Chukwudi, also commended the NIBs for their “catalytic roles in helping SMEs to access interest-free loans and providing them the needed financial management advisory, which have been helping them in sustaining their operations in the face of rising cost of doing business in the country.”
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