Nigeria’s largest banks delivered a mixed but ultimately reassuring set of financial results in 2025, with balance sheet expansion and revenue growth offset by a sharp, policy-driven hit to profitability.
According to the 2025 audited financial statement for the period ended December 31st, tier one lenders’ gross earnings rose broadly, with the total amount collectively rising by 7.69 percent to N18.2 trillion from N16.9 trillion in the same period of 2024.
This growth was led by Access Holdings to N5.52 trillion in 2025 from N4.87 trillion reported in 2024, followed by Zenith Bank rising to N4.07 trillion from N3.82 trillion, First HoldCo with N3.21 trillion from N3.37 trillion, UBA with N2.97 trillion from N3.1 trillion, and GTCO saw its gross revenue rise to N2.11 trillion in 2025 from N2.15 trillion in 2024, confirming that core banking activity remains strong despite macro pressures.
During the period, Interest income calculated using the effective interest rate expanded sharply for most banks.
Zenith nearly doubled to N2.72 trillion, while GTCO jumped to N1.32 trillion, highlighting the benefit of Nigeria’s high-yield environment.
At the same time, non-interest income continues to deepen, with e-banking revenues collectively rising to N685.5 billion from N628.4 billion across the board, underscoring the growing importance of digital channels.
More importantly, balance sheets strengthened significantly. Access HoldCo’s total assets surged to N51.5 trillion from N41.4 trillion, while UBA and Zenith crossed N33.7 trillion and N31.4 trillion, respectively.
Shareholders’ funds also expanded across all banks, reflecting the post recapitalisation exercise, which has boosted capital buffers and improved loss-absorption capacity.
This capital build-up is central to the story. Nigerian banks raised a total of N4.65 trillion in fresh capital over a two-year recapitalisation drive, with 33 lenders meeting revised minimum requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor, said the exercise has strengthened the industry’s capacity to absorb shocks and support economic growth. “The recapitalisation programme has strengthened the capital base of Nigerian banks, reinforcing the resilience of the financial system and ensuring it is well-positioned to support economic growth and withstand domestic and external shocks.”
The central bank said all lenders remain fully operational, with no disruption to banking services recorded during the recapitalisation period, as authorities sought to avoid instability while tightening capital requirements.
The effort comes alongside a phased exit from regulatory forbearance introduced in previous years to cushion banks from economic headwinds.
However, the cost of that reset is visible in earnings.
In the full-year report of Nigeria’s biggest banks, First HoldCo’s profit after tax fell to N52 billion in 2025 from N663 billion in 2024, UBA fell to N404 billion from N766 billion, and GTCO also recorded a decline to N865 billion from N1.01 trillion. In contrast, Zenith held steady at N1.04 trillion, while Access Bank grew its profit to N743 billion.
The divergence reflects elevated loan loss provisions, as banks unwind regulatory forbearance and reclassify previously shielded loans. This is less about fresh deterioration and more about recognising legacy risks.
That explains the expected pause in dividends for shareholders in their 2025 full-year financials, as UBA’s full-year 2025 results showed loan loss provisions of N331 billion on its books. First HoldCo followed with impairments rising to N710 billion from N371 billion, while Access Holdings’ charge for impairment on loans and advances to customers jumped 209 percent to N287.3 billion.
However, UBA and FirstHoldco have assured the investing public that this pause in dividends was impacted by prudent and forward-looking risk management decisions, a strategic clean-up exercise aimed at strengthening the group’s balance sheet and restoring confidence.
Investors remain positive as market data shows NGX banking stocks rally at the close of trading on May 4th by 0.36 percent, hitting 2,290.78 points.
Market data showed the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 0.36 percent to 243,158.97 points, pulling the year-to-date return down to +56.26 percent, and market breadth remained firmly positive, as it strengthened to 1.69x from 1.26x, indicating strong buying interest across counters, with 54 stocks closing in the green.
Trading data shows that banking stocks were the primary drivers of the market rise; these stocks include GTCO, rising by 3.70 percent, and Stanbic IBTC, rising by 9.70 percent, among others, after the trading hours.
