Nigeria’s top ten banks on the NGX reported a combined pretax profit of N2.7 trillion for the six months ended June 2025.
Although this represents a 12% decline from the N3.16 trillion recorded in the same period last year, it still highlights the sector’s solid performance.
Profitability remains one of the most important measures of financial health and operational efficiency, an indicator that investors and analysts closely track to assess how well institutions are performing.
Pretax profit, in simple terms, shows how much a company earns after accounting for operating expenses, impairments, and other costs, but before taxes are deducted.
This article examines the performance of Nigeria’s top banks in their H1 2025 financial results, most of which have been published, except for Fidelity Bank, which has yet to release its numbers.
The focus here is on the pretax profit amount generated during the six-month period, rather than on year-on-year changes in performance.
With that context, here are the 10 most profitable Nigerian banks in the first half of 2025.
Jaiz Bank Plc takes the 10th spot with a pretax profit of N14.7 billion for the first half of 2025, representing a 27.64% rise from N11.5 billion a year earlier.
The bank’s top-line performance was strong, with income from financing contracts climbing 31.9% to N19.6 billion.
- Murabaha transactions contributed the most at N13.8 billion, followed by Ijara deals at N4.7 billion, with other income sources making up the rest.
Income from investing activities reached N24.3 billion, pushing total gross income to N44 billion. After accounting for an impairment charge of N351.5 million, net income after provisions stood at N43.6 billion, up 29.5%.
Fee and commission revenue totaled N2.4 billion, and even after operating expenses of N18.4 billion, Jaiz Bank closed the period with a healthy N14.7 billion profit before tax.
- Total assets stood at N964 billion, slightly lower by 10.8%, while retained earnings held steady at N15.6 billion.
