Access, Zenith, others grow loan books, reap billions from foreign operations

The half-year financial statements released by Access, Zenith, United Bank for Africa, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), FCMB Group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc revealed that these banks delivered more loans in the period under review.

According to the analysis, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and Access Bank Plc reported the biggest increase in customer loans and advances in the first half of this year.

Stanbic IBTC increased its loans and advances to customers by 39 percent from N0.76 trillion in the first half of 2021 to N1.06 trillion in the same period this year.

Access Bank’s loan book grew by 29 percent from N3.58 trillion in H1 2021 to N4.62 trillion in the first half of 2021. Zenith Bank increased its loans to customers by 22 percent to N3.66 trillion from N3 trillion.

FCMB’s loan to customers also grew by 22 percent to N1.12 trillion in the first half of 2022 from N0.92 trillion in the same period of 2021. UBA’s loans to its customers stood at N2.75 trillion at the end of 2022, up by 4.5 percent from N2.63 trillion posted in the same period of 2021.

GTCO, the holding company of Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, said its loans and advances to customers grew by 12 percent to N1.83 trillion in H1 2022 from N1.63 trillion in the same period of 2021.

However, only FBN Holdings, the holding company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, reduced its loans to customers during the period.

The lender’s loans and advances to customers dropped from N2.53 trillion in the first half of 2021 H1 2021 to N1.83 trillion this year.

Similarly, review of the financial performance of some of Nigeria’s largest banks which have offshore subsidiaries highlights a significant rise in revenues and profits from these foreign subsidiaries.

In aggregate, across the banks under review, revenues from offshore operations surged from N2.4 trillion in 2020 to N2.8 trillion in 2021 representing a 13.8 per cent increase year on year.

Also, revenue from outside Nigeria also contributed 22 percent of revenues in 2021 compared to 21 per cent in the prior year.

UBA’s African operations alone contributed 40.9 percent of revenues and an astonishing 59.5 per cent of pre-tax profits (N96.8 billion) respectively in 2021. In total, operations outside Nigeria contributed 45 per cent of revenues and 65 per cent of profits in 2021.