First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has released its Q1 2025 financial results for the period ended March 31, reporting a pre-tax profit of N35 billion, an 11.73% year-on-year increase.
One of the key highlights of the result was gross earnings, which surpassed the bank’s internal forecast.
FCMB posted gross earnings of N252.69 billion, beating its Q1 2025 projection of N239.39 billion by 5.6%.
This figure also represents a robust 41.41% increase compared to Q1 2024, primarily driven by a surge in interest income.
- Interest income rose by 71% to N214.36 billion, accounting for 84% of gross earnings.
- Fees and commission income grew by 43.4% year-on-year to N24.29 billion, contributing 9.61% of gross earnings.
- Trading income from foreign exchange, FGN bonds, and treasury bills amounted to N14.34 billion, representing 5.68% of gross earnings.
Strong core banking performance anchors FCMB’s Q1 2025 growth
With interest income serving as the primary driver of FCMB Group’s earnings in Q1 2025, the results highlight the bank’s strength in its core banking operations, particularly through lending and strategic investment activities.
Interest income from loans and advances to customers rose sharply by 63.89% year-on-year to N150.30 billion, accounting for 70% of total interest income.
Impressively, this already represents about 35% of the bank’s total interest income for the full year 2024, suggesting that FCMB is firmly on track to outperform its prior-year performance.
In addition, interest income from investment securities nearly doubled to N60.35 billion, contributing 28.15% to overall interest income.
Non-interest income
Beyond interest income, FCMB also recorded a strong showing in its non-interest income segment:
- Service fees and commission income surged by 74% YoY to N10.15 billion.
- Account maintenance fees climbed 62% YoY to N4.43 billion.
- Electronic fees and commissions declined by 26% YoY to N3.76 billion, yet contributed meaningfully to the bank’s overall fee and commission income.
On the expense side, FCMB faced significant pressure from the elevated interest rate environment, which reflected the CBN’s tight monetary policy stance.
Interest expenses on customer deposits surged by over 81% to N126.87 billion in Q1 2025.
This figure represents more than 31% of the bank’s total interest expenses for the full year 2024 and accounts for over 59% of its interest income for the quarter, highlighting the growing cost of funding.
Balance sheet analysis:
The Group’s total assets continued to be driven by deposits. Total deposit accounts for over 70% of the balance sheet size, while shareholders’ funds reached N730.972 billion, constituting 9.87% of total assets, comprising:
- Retained earnings: N220.492 billion
- Share capital: N19.801 billion
- Share premium: N246.431 billion
Despite the strong financial results, FCMB’s share price performance has remained underwhelming.
The stock closed at N8.95 on April 29, 2025, marking a 4.79% year-to-date loss.
Perspective
- FCMB’s Q1 2025 results paint a picture of strong earnings momentum, driven by a focused core lending strategy and an improving yield environment for investment securities.
- The bank’s ability to beat projections reflects effective asset deployment, although rising funding costs, a byproduct of tight monetary policy, could start to pressure margins if not offset by continued loan growth and cost discipline.
- Despite these challenges, the combination of interest income growth, resilient fee generation, and capital strength positions FCMB on a solid footing for FY 2025.
