By Dipo Olowookere
The ‘big five’ banks in Nigeria; First Bank, UBA, GTBank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank under the nickname FUGAZ, generated nearly N2 trillion (precisely N1.979 trillion) as revenue in the first nine months of 2017 compared with N1.338 trillion they achieved in the corresponding period of 2016.
This is according to the Q3 financial statements released by the lenders last month to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period ended September 30, 2017, which was analysed by Business Post Nigeria.
From the analysis, Zenith Bank raked the highest figure during the period under review, N531.226 billion versus N380.352 billion last year.
It was closely followed by First Bank, which earned N439.2 billion in 2017 against N417.4 billion in 2016, and Access Bank, which posted N365.055 billion as gross revenue in Q3 2017 in contrast to N275 billion in the same period of 2016.
UBA came fourth with N333.905 billion generated as revenue in Q3 of 2017 versus N265.527 billion in 2016; and GTBank, which came last, suffered a drop in its revenue in the period under review; N310 billion in 2017 against N329.284 billion in 2016.
Further analysis by Business Post Nigeria showed that the five banks grew their profits during the period by 16.5 percent, posting a cumulative gain of N417.967 billion in 2017 in contrast to N358.677 billion in the same period of last year.
A breakdown showed GTBank recording the highest gain; N125.577 billion in Q3 of 2017 versus N117.081 billion in Q3 of 2016.
Zenith Bank came second with N129.235 billion posted as profit in Q3 of 2017 against N95.386 billion in Q3 of 2016; and UBA claimed the third position with N60.920 billion posted as profit in Q3 of 2017 compared with N49.512 billion a year ago.
Access Bank recorded N56.396 billion profit in the period under review against N54.081 billion posted 12 months ago; while First Bank declared N45.839 billion as profit in Q3 of 2017 versus N42.617b in Q3 of 2016.
Also, the FUGAZ banks increased their total assets during the first nine months of this year, with the value of their assets closing at N20.520 trillion in the period under review against N19.581 trillion as at December 31, 2016.
Zenith Bank remains number one with N5.132 trillion total assets as at September 30, 2017 against N4.739 trillion as at December 31, 2016.
It was trailed by First Bank, which has N4.864 trillion as total assets as at September 30, 2017 versus N4.737 trillion as at December 31, 2016; and UBA, which has assets worth N3.771 trillion as at September 30, 2017 compared with N3.505 trillion as at December 31, 2016.
Access Bank’s total assets stood at N3.541 trillion in the period under review compared with N3.484 trillion as at December 31, 2016; while GTBank recorded a total assets of N3.212 trillion as at September 30, 2017 in contrast to N3.116 trillion as at December 31, 2016.
Business Post Nigeria reports that as at the close of business on Thursday, shares of three of the FUGAZ banks were pointing north, while two were pointing south.
GTBank, which closed the day at N42.50k per share, rose by 0.95 percent; First Bank increased by 0.7 percent to end at N7.24k per share; and Access Bank improved by 0.2 percent to finish at N10.3k per share.
Zenith Bank went down by 1.88 percent to settle at N25.10k per share, while UBA depreciated by 1.02 percent to end at N9.70k per share.
