If you have a keen eye to observe the health and performance of the banks in Nigeria that keep your money, or offer financial services – you might want to know the top performing banks. We acknowledge that our avid readers and followers could be any of these – investors, entrepreneurs and/or consumers within and outside Nigeria, interested in the country’s banking and financial sector.
It has been quite a tough journey of social and economic recovery post-COVID 19 for everyone. Even as other favourable and unfavourable events across the globe continue to unfold. Banks and their host countries definitely were, and continue to be impacted by these events. Nevertheless, we have the exceptional banks who are determined to surmount these obstacles to provide customer-centric service, security of funds, and cutting-edge technology to citizens and organizations alike. They are not perfect, but they are determined. Let’s investigate the top 10 banks in Nigeria as at the year ending December 2022.
Banks in Nigeria: 2022 Statistics
According to The Banker, world-acclaimed global financial reporting and banking analysis website (and an arm of Financial Times International), the year 2021 saw the slow recovery of African economies. But in spite of that, some stability and improvement in assets, net profits and performance were recorded from 2021 onward, across many African banks. Zenith Bank International ranked number 13 out of 100 in the list of top-performing African banks between 2021 and 2022. And for that feat, Zenith Bank received the award for The Banker’s Bank of the Year Nigeria Award 2022. We have proceeded to extract the list of the top 10 banks in Nigeria for the financial year 2022 from the same list, and thereby assess their performance during the stated period.
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Top 10 Banks in Nigeria 2023
Here are the top 10 best and most performing banks in Nigeria currently;
- Zenith: 13th
- Access: 15th
- Guaranty Trust (GTCO): 18th
- United Bank for Africa: 23rd
- First Bank of Nigeria: 24th
- Stanbic IBTC Holdings: 33rd
- Fidelity: 47th
- First City Monument Bank: 66th
- Ecobank Nigeria: 80th
- Union Bank of Nigeria: 82nd
So how exactly did each of these banks perform between 2021 and 2022?
Zenith Bank
Zenith Bank Plc was established in 1990 by Jim Ovia. The bank fervently embraced information technology to promote Its services right from inception. It now has subsidiaries in Sierra Leone, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, the UK and United Arab Emirates. In its unaudited results presented to the Nigerian Exchange for Quarter 3 of the financial year ending September 2022, there was a rise in operating costs by 17% from the previous year. Nevertheless, it recorded:
- – gross earnings of N620.6 billion
- – profit after tax of N174.3 billion
- – total assets of N11.34 trillion.
Access bank
Access Bank Plc, established in 1989 as a corporate bank, embraced personal and business banking in 2012. A merger took place between Access bank and Diamond bank in 2019. It now operates in several countries across Africa, Europe and Asia: Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Ghana, Gambia, Kenya, Congo, Mozambique, the UK, Lebanon, China, United Arab Emirates, and India. In its undaunted financial statement presented for Quarter 3 of 2022, a reduction of 0.5 % in operating costs from Quarter 3 of 2021 to Quarter 3 of 2022 was noted. Access bank also recorded:
– gross earnings of N908 billion
– profit after tax of N137 billion
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Guaranty Trust Bank (GTCO)
Guaranty Trust Bank, renamed Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc in 2022 was established in the year 1990. At present it offers corporate, retail and commercial banking services, asset maagement, investment banking and pensions management to the public. Its geographical coverage includes Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and the UK. At the end of the Quarter 3 of the financial year ending September 2022, the bank recorded:
- – profit before tax of N169.7 billion
- – total assets of N5.81 trillion
United Bank for Africa (UBA)
UBA was established in 1948 to offer commercial, corporate, retail and SME banking, as well as investment services to the general public. It operates in 20 African countries, the USA, France and the United Kingdom. As at the end of Quarter 3 of the financial year ending September 2022, the bank recorded:
- – gross earnings of N608 billion
- – profit after tax of N116 billion
- – total assets of N9.3 trillion
First Bank of Nigeria
The first-ever bank established in West Africa, First bank began operations in 1894. It is currently operating as FBN Holdings in Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Congo, Sierra Leone, Senegal, UK, France and China. The bank offers retail, corporate, commercial and public sector banking, as well as pension and assets management. In its undaunted financial reports for Quarter 3 ending September 2022, the bank recorded:
- – gross earnings of N547.24 billion
- – profit after tax of N91.202 billion
- – total assets of 2.63 billion US Dollars
Stanbic IBTC Holdings
Stanbic IBTC was originally founded in 1989 as an investment bank – IBTC Chartered Bank Plc. A merger took place between Stanbic Bank Nigeria Limited, IBTC Chartered Bank Plc and Regent Bank Plc as required by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005, then later transformed into a holding company in 2012. The bank offers commercial and investment banking, asset management, pension management, estate management, stockbroking, insurance amongst other services. As at the end of Quarter 3 of the financial year ending September 2022, the bank presented its financial statement. The bank was determined to reduce its operating costs and losses in loan expenses. Subsequently it recorded:
- gross earnings of N201.5 billion
- profit after tax of N55 billion
- Total assets of N2.95 rillion
Fidelity Bank
Fidelity Bank PLC was set up as a merchant bank, and afterwards got the licence for commercial banking in 1988. It later acquired Manny Bank and FSB International bank in 2005. The bank also renders corporate and SME banking today. It operates predominantly in Nigeria with a large network of branches across the nation. As at the end of the Quarter 3 of the financial year ending September 2022, Fidelity Bank presented its undaunted financial statement where it recorded:
- •gross earnings of N241.9 billion
- profit after tax of N34.96 billion
- • total assets.of N3.8 trillion
First City Monument Bank (FCMB)
FCMB was established in Nigeria in the year 1982 as an offshoot of City Securities Limited (which had been in existence since 1977) to offer retail, commercial and investment banking, and well as asset management, pension management, microfinance amongst other services. It is one of the nine arms of the FCMB Group Plc; and it has branches in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom. FCMB released its results for the financial year ending September 2022 in which it was stated that the bank recorded:
- gross earnings of N200.067 billion
- profit after tax of N13.804 billion
- total assets of N2.934 trillion
Ecobank Nigeria
Ecobank Nigeria, established in 1988, is a commercial bank that has ventured into retail, wholesale, corporate and investment banking. They acquired Oceanic bank in 2011 through its parent company (Ecobank Transnational). Today, Ecobank operates in 32 African countries (including Nigeria) with its headquarters in Lome, Togo. It also has branches in France, Britain and Dubai. In its financial reports of Quarter 3 ending September 2022, Ecobank Transnational recorded:
- profit after tax of N117.4 billion
- gross earnings of N761 billion
Union Bank of Nigeria
Union Bank was founded and named as Colonial Bank in 1917 by a group of British investors, as a commercial bank. From three branches (Port Harcourt, Lagos, Jos) it expanded to other cities in Nigeria, then to other places in West Africa. Barclays Bank purchased the Colonial Bank, changed its name and continued to expand until the Nigerian government bought the majority shares in 1972 and it was finally named Union Bank of Nigeria. The bank later acquired Universal Trust Bank and Broad Bank, then totally absorbed its subsidiary, Union Merchant bank. Today the Titan Trust Bank owns 89.4 % majority shares in Union Bank Plc. Union bank’s audited financial reports of Quarter 3 in the financial year ending September 2022 showed:
• gross earnings of N140.6 billion
• profit before tax of N18.2 billion
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