Nigeria’s five biggest banks — Access Corporation, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), and First HoldCo have collectively earned a staggering N4.8 trillion in interest income from fixed-income securities within the first nine months of 2025.
Data obtained from their financial statements filed with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) reveal that the banks’ combined investment in government bonds and treasury bills soared to N49.15 trillion by September 2025, marking a 16.5 percent increase from N42.20 trillion recorded at the end of December 2024.
By individual performance, Access Corporation led with N15.25 trillion invested in securities, followed by UBA with N13.59 trillion, Zenith Bank with N9.05 trillion, First HoldCo with N6.35 trillion, and GTCO with N4.91 trillion. Their respective earnings were N1.3 trillion for Access, N1.14 trillion for Zenith, N1.03 trillion for UBA, N720.15 billion for First HoldCo, and N570.23 billion for GTCO.
Analysts note that the surge underscores banks’ increasing preference for risk-free government instruments over private-sector lending, which carries higher default risks. This conservative strategy, while lucrative, contrasts sharply with the slower pace of loan growth to customers.
Loan portfolios across the five lenders collectively rose by only 7.27 percent to N42.26 trillion, compared to a 16.46 percent jump in fixed-income investments. Notably, Access Corporation recorded the highest loan growth at 20 percent, while Zenith Bank saw a marginal decline of 0.34 percent.
The News Chronicle gathered that this cautious lending trend reflects banks’ strategic realignment toward safer returns amid regulatory uncertainty and volatile macroeconomic conditions. With the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set to migrate all fixed-income trading and settlement operations from the FMDQ Securities Exchange to its Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Scripless Securities Settlement System (S4) from November, the move could redefine market dynamics.
The policy shift positions the CBN as both regulator and operator of the fixed-income market — a consolidation that may streamline bond operations but could also reshape profit structures for banks heavily dependent on government securities.
