…As five banks post 37% growth in profitability
By Babajide Komolafe, Economy Editor
Nine top banks in Nigeria recorded a combined N4.115 trillion profit after tax (PAT) in the nine months ended September 2025 (9M’25), representing a 1.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline from N4.176 trillion recorded in the same period of 2024 (9M’24).
The banks are Access Holdings, Ecobank Transnational, GT Holdings, FBN Holdings, Sterling Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, UBA, Wema Bank, and Zenith Bank.
A Vanguard analysis of their financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2025, showed that five banks recorded profit growth, while the remaining four posted declines.
Cumulatively, the five profitable banks grew their PAT by 37 per cent YoY to N1.753 trillion in 9M’25, up from N1.28 trillion in 9M’24. The gainers were Wema Bank, Sterling Holdings, Ecobank, Stanbic IBTC, and UBA.
Wema Bank recorded a 299 per cent YoY increase in profit to N172.4 billion in 9M’25 from N43.2 billion in 9M’24, while Sterling Holdings posted a 130 per cent rise to N62.3 billion from N27.4 billion. Stanbic IBTC grew profit by 52 per cent to N278.5 billion from N182.9 billion, and Ecobank reported a 43 per cent increase to N702.4 billion from N492 billion. Similarly, UBA recorded a modest 2.5 per cent growth to N537.5 billion from N525.3 billion.
Conversely, the remaining four banks Access Holdings, GT Holdings, FBN Holdings, and Zenith Bank saw their combined profits drop by 18.4 per cent YoY to N2.362 trillion in 9M’25 from N2.897 trillion in 9M’24.
Access Holdings posted a 2.2 per cent decline to N448 billion from N458 billion, while Zenith Bank recorded a 7.6 per cent drop to N764.2 billion from N827.3 billion. FBN Holdings saw an 18.4 per cent fall to N450.9 billion from N533.9 billion, and GT Holdings recorded a steep 35 per cent decline to N699.6 billion from N1.085 trillion in the corresponding period of 2024.
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