Nigerian Banks have recorded another round of extra-ordinary profits following recent gains in foreign exchange arising from depreciation of the Naira.
According to financial reports of nine leading banks released by the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, banks got a profit before tax of N2.292 trillion just in the nine months of 2023.
About 63.6 per cent, amounting to N1.457 trillion of the profit came from foreign exchange related transactions.
The same banks made just N225.416 billion in the corresponding period of 2022, indicating forex profit growth rate of 546.5%.
The profit of N2.292trillion also shows a staggering increase of 156.4 per cent against N897.717 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year, 9M’22.
The nine banks which Financial Vanguard reviewed their results include FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, GTBank Group, UBA, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank, Sterling Bank Holdings, Fidelity Bank and Jaiz Bank.
Other major banks yet to release their figures include, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation (ETI), Union Bank, Polaris Bank, FCMB, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, FSDH Merchant Bank, NOVA Merchant Bank, Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Providus Bank, and others.
Comparative profit performance
Details of the Tier -1 banks’ profit figures in the 9M’23 include: Zenith Bank which topped the chart with N505.0363 billion, followed by UBA’s N502.091billion, GTB with N433.203billion came third while Access Bank trailed with N294.416 billion and First Bank posted N270.333 billion.
The Tier-1 banks’ profits accounted for 87.5% of the combined 9 banks’ profitability for the period under review, while Tier-2 banks accounted for 12.5%.
Tier-2 banks with significantly higher profit during the period under review include: Stanbic IBTC which recorded N129.458 billion to top the chart followed by Fidelity Bank N110.992 billion, Wema Bank N22.117 billion, Sterling Bank N17.803 billion and Jaiz Bank N6.679 billion.
Economic analysts believe that when results of the remaining banks are released, combined profit would be in excess of N3.5 trillion.