Nigeria’s First- Tier Banks Net N3.12trn Despite Covid-19 Restriction

Nigeria’s five biggest banks have recorded over N3.12trn revenue amid Covid- 19 pandemic reflecting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s effort to strengthen the banking system.

THE WHISTLER can report that the five top banks making up the first- tier category which are Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, First Bank of Nigeria and Guarantee Trust Bank Plc saw a surge in revenue to N3.12trn in 2020, up by 6.92 per cent from the N2.9trn revenue recorded in 2019.

Banks had shut down most of their branches across the country following the lockdown directive issued by the Federal Government in March last year.

But Covid-19 changed customer behaviour which drove large increases in transaction activity through alternative channels.

The banks also recorded a combined profit of N741.5bn in 2020 reflecting 11.92 per cent growth from N662.5bn in 2009.

By revenue, Access bank led the banks with N764.72bn revenue from N666.75bn in 2019, while Zenith’s revenue rose to N696.45 from N662.25 in 2019. UBA followed closely with N 620.37, a rise from the N559.8bn recorded in 2019.

First Bank’s revenue also rose to N579.43bn in 2020 against N590.4bn in 2019, while GTB’s revenue rose to N455.23bn compared to N435.31bn in 2019.

By the end of 2020, the country’s largest bank by profit was Zenith which realised N230.57bn profit after tax, representing an increase from N208.84bn recorded in 2019.

GTB emerged second largest by profit with N201.44bn in 2020 against N196.85bn recorded in 2019.

UBA followed with a wide margin to record N113.76bn net profit, rising from the N89.1bnrecorded in 2019.

Access Bank realised N106bn as profit for the year, rising from the N94.1bn recorded in 2019, making it the fourth most profitable tier- one bank, while First Bank’s profit for 2020 was N89.73bn, up from the N73.7bn in 2019.

With several expansion deals across Africa in 2020, tier one banks assets rose by 28 per cent (N8.42trn) to a record N37.49trn in 2020. The banks had a combined asset of N29.trn in 2019.

Access was in 2020 the bank with the biggest asset worth N 8.68trn up from N7.14trn in 2019, attributed to the execution of several expansion deals last year including acquisitions of Kenya, Zambia, Cameroon and Mozambique banks.

Zenith followed closely with a total asset of N8.48trn in 2020, a rise from the N6.34trn in 2019, while UBA’S asset grew to N7.69trn in 2020 from N5.62trn in 2019.

First Bank recorded total assets of N7.69trn in 2020 from the N6.2trn posted in 2019, while GTB recorded a growth in assets from N3.76trn in 2019 to N4.94trn.