Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, Nigeria's five tier-one banks achieved combined total assets of N161.4 trillion last year, representing a 12.9 percent increase from the N143 trillion reported in 2024. The banks, also referred to as FUGAZ (First HoldCo Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Access Holdings Plc and Zenith Bank Plc), posted significant growth in total assets driven largely by high interest-rate earnings, foreign exchange revaluation gains, improved pricing of risk assets and strong growth in non-interest income across their operations.
Breakdown of Asset Growth
A breakdown of the performance showed that First HoldCo's total assets rose to N27.3 trillion in 2025 from N26.5 trillion in 2024, representing a growth of three percent. UBA grew its total assets to N33.2 trillion from N30.3 trillion, reflecting a 9.6 percent increase, while GTCO expanded its assets from N14.8 trillion to N17.8 trillion, indicating a 20.3 percent growth. Access Holdings maintained the largest asset base among the tier-one lenders as total assets climbed to N51.6 trillion from N41.8 trillion in 2024, representing a 23.4 percent increase. Zenith Bank recorded a 5.4 percent growth in total assets, from N29.9 trillion to N31.5 trillion.
Market Capitalisation Dominance
As of Friday, May 8, the five FUGAZ banks controlled a combined market capitalisation of N16.57 trillion on the Nigerian Exchange, reinforcing their dominance in the country's equity market and banking sector. First HoldCo recorded a market capitalisation of N3.01 trillion, representing about 1.92 percent of the Nigerian Exchange equity market, while UBA ranked as the 21st most valuable stock on the NGX with a market capitalisation of N1.77 trillion, accounting for approximately 1.13 percent of the market. Guaranty Trust Holding emerged as the eighth most valuable stock on the NGX with a market capitalisation of N5.26 trillion, contributing about 3.35 percent to the total equity market capitalisation. Access Holdings stood as the 24th most valuable stock on the exchange with a market capitalisation of N1.31 trillion, representing about 0.84 percent of the market, while Zenith Bank ranked as the 10th most valuable stock with a market capitalisation of N5.22 trillion, accounting for approximately 3.32 percent of the Nigerian Exchange equity market.
Analyst Insights and Future Outlook
Analysts noted that improved pricing of risk assets enabled the banks to better balance returns with credit quality and optimise profitability amid prevailing economic pressures. They maintained that the era of extraordinary profits driven by foreign exchange revaluation gains and excessively high lending spreads may gradually be coming to an end as stability returns to the currency market and interest rates begin to moderate. According to them, the focus of banks should shift increasingly toward strengthening core banking operations, expanding quality lending, growing fee and commission income, deepening digital banking revenue and optimising cost efficiency and risk management rather than depending on temporary windfalls. They stated that lenders with strong balance sheets, diversified revenue streams across banking and non-banking financial services, as well as robust risk governance frameworks, would likely outperform peers in the coming years.
Role of Non-Interest Income
Strong growth in non-interest income, particularly from trading activities, electronic banking channels and digital platforms, also provided a major boost to overall revenue generation across the banking industry. The increasing adoption of e-banking platforms and digital transaction channels further diversified income streams for the banks and reinforced their resilience in a difficult operating environment, contributing significantly to their sustained full-year performance.
