BANK REPORTS: Five best performing Nigerian banks for Q1 2022 by earnings

Ripples Nigeria quarterly ranking for best performing commercial banks operating in Nigeria is determined by the growth of the financial institutions’ Net Interest Income within three months, with that of Q1 falling between January to March.

Net Interest Income is the balance from turnover of interest-bearing assets, such as corporate, personal and other type of loans, as well as cost of servicing liabilities like customers’ deposits.

The outcome of the ranking was determined by earnings analysis of Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Holdings, as well as Stanbic IBTC, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Union Bank Nigeria (UBN), Wema Bank, Unity Bank, Ecobank and Fidelity Bank.

Analysis of the lenders’ earnings report showed the Net Interest Income grew by 12.87% in the first quarter of 2022, representing N69.84 billion gain, after settling at N612.38 billion, to surpass the N542.54 billion generated by the 12 companies during the corresponding period of Q1 2021.

Ranking of Five Top Performing Nigerian Banks

The ranking is listed from the best performing commercial bank to the least, with some major key takeaways.

Stanbic IBTC (47.7% growth)

Stanbic IBTC was the beat performing Bank in Nigeria as of Q1 2022,, as its Net Interest Income increased by 47.7% year-on-year, considering the company generated N23.43 billion in Q1 2022, which is N7.57 billion more than the N15.86 billion recorded in Q1 last year.

• At the end of the first quarter period under review, Stanbic IBTC posted N15.06 billion as profit after tax.

• It was in contrast to the N11.25 billion the lender reported as PAT during the corresponding quarter of 2021. This is a growth of 33.8%

First Bank of Nigeria (37.8% growth)

The Net Interest Income of FBN for the first quarter of 2022 was N72.79 billion, rising by 37.8% when compared to the N52.79 billion the lender generated in Q1 2021. This represents a gain of N20 billion, making the lender the second best performing bank during the period under review.

Read also: Nigerian banks open 66.6m new customer accounts in two years, Access leads in deposits

• Meanwhile, First Bank saw its profit after tax rise to N32.40 billion at the end of Q1 this year, rising by 107.7% year-on-year.

• The PAT for last quarter surpassed the N15.59 billion the financial institution reported as profit after tax last year first quarter.

First City Monument Bank (32.6% growth)

Analysis shows that FCMB’s Net Interest Income for Q1 this year increased by 32.6% after the company generated N28.14 billion, which is a gain of N6.92 billion, when compared to the N21.22 billion the commercial bank reported for Q1 2021 – making it the third best performing lender.

• First City Monument Bank also posted impressive growth in its profit after tax, which rose by 44.6% to hit N5.16 billion in Q1 this year.
• FCMB management managed to surpass the N3.57 billion the financial institution reported in the first quarter of last year.

Union Bank of Nigeria (21.38% growth)

Also making the top five best performing bank ranking was UBN, following report of its Q1 2022 Net Interest Income clocking N13.34 billion, which is a 21.38% appreciation in comparison to the N10.99 billion generated for Q1 2021.

• Taking a look at Union Bank Nigeria’s profit after tax, the company was the only commercial bank to record a short fall in the Q1 2022 PAT, reporting N5.55 billion.

• UBN dropped -10.56% from the N6.20 billion the financial lender had recorded as profit after tax of first quarter last year.

Zenith Bank (20.8% growth)

At the end of Q1 2022, Zenith Bank’s Net Interest Income rose by 20.8%, as the company generated N100.53 billion, in contrast to the N83.16 billion it recorded in the corresponding period of Q1 2021.

Zenith Bank ended the quarter as the fifth best performing commercial bank on the list of 12 lenders monitored by Ripples Nigeria , after making an extra N17.37 billion when both quarters are compared.

• During the same period this year, Zenith Bank reported a profit after tax of N58.19 billion, which appreciated 9.68% year-on-year.

• The Ebenezer Onyeagwu-led creditor surpassed the N53.06 billion the company had reported in the first quarter last year.

Some key takeaways

(1) Of the 12 commercial banks analysed, only Access Bank reported a loss in its Net Interest Income of Q1 2022, as it could only generate N87.35 billion, which is -7.02% lower than the N93.95 billion of Q1 2021.

(2) The five listed companies are the only commercial banks to record a growth above 20%, while only three surpassed 30% and just one smashed through the 40% ceiling, needing 2.3% to touch 50% growth within three months.

(3) Analysis shows that the six lenders mentioned below were stuck below 15% growth, reflecting 5% gap between them and the best performing commercial banks by Net Interest Income:

• Wema Bank: 14.99%
• UBA: 14%
• Unity Bank: 9.43%
• GTBank: 9.09%
• Fidelity Bank: 4.3%
• Ecobank: 4.15%

(4) The Ripples Nigeria ranking helps shareholders and prospective investors weigh the performance of the banks they invested in or intend to invest in, to help them have an idea of what to expect, earnings wise, going into the next quarter.

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