The oil and gas sector comprising services, upstream, downstream and refinery got the lion share of the N9.34 trillion loan facilities offered by the five biggest banks in Nigeria, GTBank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, United Bank of Africa and First Bank (FUGAZ), between January to June, 2019.
Access Bank Plc topped the pack with net loan and advances increased from N2.14 trillion as at the end of December 2018 to N2.85 trillion by June 2019, an increase of 33 per cent.
The oil and gas sector got the largest chunk with about 29.6 per cent of the total loan, while food manufacturing got the lowest of 2.8 per cent.
Zenith Bank Plc came second with loans and advances dropping from N1.82 trillion in December 2018 to N1.80 trillion by June 2019, a drop of 1.09 per cent.
According to data released by the bank, the oil and gas sector got N541.9 billion while education got the lowest of N4.3 billion.
For UBA Plc, its loans and advances increased from N1.73 trillion in 2018 full year to N1.77 trillion 2019 half year, by 2.2 per cent. Like all others, the oil and gas sector got the largest percentage in the loan distribution with 21 per cent while the agriculture and real and estate construction sector got three per cent apiece.
Nigerian oldest financial institution, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) loan also dropped from N1.72 trillion to N1.59 trillion within the same period.
Oil and gas also accounted for 34.8 per cent of the N1.59 trillion while general commerce only got 4.0 per cent.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc increased its loan and advance by 0.79 per cent, from N1.26 trillion to N1.27 trillion within same period. Oil and Gas (upstream, midstream, downstream) – 44 per cent, while education got the lowest of 1 per cent.
According to a Central Bank of Nigeria report, the increased availability of secured credit to households in third quarter of 2019 came as a result of increased market share and high-risk appetite of lenders.
Essentially, the high-risk appetite of lenders means lenders are willing to take high chances when lending to households.
