A recent report by Proshare has revealed that only two Tier 1 banks—Zenith Bank Plc and Access Holdings Plc—have so far surpassed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) N500 billion share capital and share premium benchmark for banks operating with international licences.
The report, titled “Tier 1 Banks Report: Getting Bigger, Braver, and Dominant – The Class of 2025,” noted that Zenith Bank leads the pack with a total of N614.65 billion, followed closely by Access Holdings with N594.90 billion. Other Tier 1 banks such as Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) are trailing behind with N353.51 billion and N345.30 billion, respectively.
“All Tier 1 banks are licensed for international operations. However, tier 1 borderline banks (the highest-ranked tier 2 banks) have also chosen to achieve N500bn share capital to compete aggressively in the emerging global and continental banking markets,” the report stated.
The report highlighted a shift in the banking hierarchy, citing ETI’s significant 67.11% asset growth, largely driven by its operations in Francophone West Africa, as the factor behind its ascent above Zenith Bank in asset rankings.
It also projects a potential return of Fidelity Bank to Tier 1 status by the end of the 2025 financial year, despite a N225 billion Supreme Court judgment liability related to its legacy acquisition of FSB International Bank. “Fidelity Bank could still maintain adequate liquidity if it strategically managed the impact of the judgment,” the report stated.
Proshare analysts also examined the broader context of the recapitalisation directive, pointing out evolving customer expectations and changing banking dynamics.
“The recapitalisation of Nigerian banks is not new, but the era in which it is now happening is different,” the analysts observed. “The contemporary era is hinged on a shift in the needs of bank customers. It is more aligned with the transactional needs of customers for bespoke services.”
While asset size has traditionally served as the primary yardstick for ranking banks, the report emphasized that asset growth is now equally critical in evaluating market performance. Based on this metric, the top five performers include ETI (67.11%), Wema Bank (59.82%), FCMB (59.46%), FirstHoldco (56.60%), and AccessCorp (55.49%).
However, the report raised red flags about non-performing loans and underutilisation of balance sheet leverage across the sector.
“While off-balance sheet transactions have grown exponentially globally, this type of banking operation remains relatively underutilised in Nigeria,” the report noted.
Despite expected short-term pressure on return on equity and capital employed, analysts maintained a positive long-term outlook, citing improvements in capital adequacy ratios and risk management frameworks in response to the CBN’s recapitalisation mandate.
Proshare concluded that the March 2026 deadline for meeting the recapitalisation target remains achievable, although some institutions are still trailing behind in their compliance efforts.
