Nigerian banks are expanding their reach across the continent through a series of acquisitions of smaller banks, in a drive to dominate the African financial landscape, writesNo Nigerian money deposit bank is ranked among the top in Africa in 2022. Despite the country having the largest economy and market, Zenith Bank, which is its leading lender, was ranked 12th in the continent last year, using its 2021 capital base size of $2.75bn, according to The Bank. Despite growing its assets to N12.
Meanwhile, the heavy devaluation of the Nigerian currency has impacted the ranking of the local lenders in the continental rating. The local currency was devalued by 93.41 per cent to $/N381.00 in 2021 from $/N196.99 in 2015. Under the President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, naira has been devalued by 133.96 per cent to $/N460.87 on May 5, 2023.
Nigerian Banks’ ratings were affected by the currency conversion, according to the CEO of BIC Consultancy Service Ltd, Dr Boniface Chizea. Furthermore, an economist and faculty member at the Lagos Business School, Prof. Adi Bongo, attributed the poor rating of Nigerian banks on the continental stage to their lack of innovation and specialisations.
“The performance of Nigerian banks is at variance with the performance of the economy. Even when we were in recession in 2006 and during COVID-19, our banks were making stupendous profits.”