Banking
S&P Affirms First Bank ‘B-/B’ Ratings, Revises Outlook to Stable
By Dipo Olowookere
One of the leading rating agencies in the world, S&P Global Ratings, has revised its outlook on First Bank of Nigeria to stable from negative.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, S&P also revealed that it has affirmed its ‘B-/B’ long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on top Nigerian lender.
In addition, the rating firm said “we have raised our long-term national scale rating on First Bank to ‘ngBB+’ from ‘ngBB’, while we have affirmed our short-term national scale rating at ‘ngB’.”
“Furthermore, we took the same rating actions on FirstBank’s non-operating holding company (NOHC), FBN Holdings PLC (FBNH),” S&P said.
Explaining the reason for its action, the agency said the rating actions reflect its view that First Bank’s regulatory capital has improved and the risk of breaching regulatory requirements has thus diminished.
In addition, the bank’s funding and liquidity remain a credit strength. Although asset quality remains a weakness, it believes this was stabilizing mainly due to the steadying of the oil price and new management’s efforts.
“We expect First Bank will continue to display weaker asset quality metrics and lower profitability than other rated top-tier banks in Nigeria in 2017 due to continuing high credit costs. That said, we believe that the bank’s new leadership team will address the legacy asset quality issues and institute more prudent risk management measures,” the rating company stated.
According to S&P, cost of risk jumped to 10.4% at year-end 2016 from 5.7% at year-end 2015, and nonperforming loans (NPLs) increased to 24.4% for the same period compared with 18.1% the prior year.
The performance of the bank’s portfolio stems from high concentration and foreign currency loans (51% of total loans in 2016), particularly the oil and gas-related exposures.
This performance and the huge impairments have prompted the bank to recruit a new Chief Risk Officer and launch a review of its risk management process to improve loans approvals, risk monitoring, and collection.
The bank is also in the process of de-risking its loan portfolio by converting some of its vulnerable foreign currency exposures to local currency.
“In our opinion, cost of risk will remain high and above the sector average, but decline to 5.3% over the next 12-18 months, while we think NPLs will drop below 20%. At year-end 2016, the bank restructured 5% of its portfolio, with the oil and gas sector accounting for 70% of the total.
“We expect First Bank to continue to restructure some loans, particularly in the downstream oil, manufacturing, and general commerce sectors in 2017.
“We anticipate that our risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio for the bank will decline slightly below 5% in the next 12-18 months. This will result from the bank’s risk asset growth moderately outpacing internal capital generation, based on our assumption of a 20% devaluation of the Nigerian naira (NGN) in 2017 and high credit costs,” the statement said.
On Dec. 31, 2016, FirstBank’s CAR improved to 17.8% from 15.4% on June 30, 2016, following a write back of a capital charge of NGN29 billion ($95 million) for exceeding the related party single obligor limit and an increase in retained earnings.
First Bank raised U.S. dollar funding in 2013 and 2014, which underpins its long dollar position at year-end 2016. The bank’s U.S. dollar-denominated subordinated debt provides a natural hedge to its capital position in the scenario of naira depreciation.
Positively, S&P said it views the bank as well-positioned in Nigeria’s competitive banking sector, thanks to its large retail footprint, low cost of funding, and stable deposit base. On Dec. 31, 2016, First Bank recorded a stable funding ratio of 125%, supported by a high proportion (66%) of deposit funding.
The bank’s foreign currency maturity profile displayed positive gaps at year-end 2016. Net broad liquid assets covered 54% of short-term deposits, comparing well with peers.
However, similar to other banks operating in Nigeria, First Bank’s deposit base is somewhat confidence sensitive, due to its contractually short-term nature.
The ratings on the bank reflect the overall creditworthiness of the First Bank group, whose group credit profile (GCP) it assess at ‘b-‘. The bank is the core component of the group, which is one of the largest in the Nigerian financial services industry, with a significant retail franchise, providing it with a leading deposit franchise and good naira liquidity.
S&P said despite the bank’s high systemic importance, the ratings on First Bank reflect its assessment of the bank’s core group status to the First Bank group and its GCP of ‘b-‘.
“We classify the likelihood of support from the Nigerian government to systemically important banks as uncertain and, as such, we do not factor into the ratings any uplift above the bank’s stand-alone credit profile (SACP).
“Our ratings on First Bank’s holding company FBNH are at the same level as the ratings on First Bank, reflecting the absence of debt at the holding company level. Under our criteria, we generally notch down from the GCP to reflect the structural subordination of the NOHC and its exposure to potential regulatory intervention.
“Nevertheless, in FBNH’s case, we take into account the absence of debt at the holding company level and believe that the risk of the NOHC defaulting is not commensurate with the ‘CCC’ rating category,” the agency said.
S&P said further that the stable outlook on First Bank reflects its view that the bank will maintain its CAR above the minimum requirement of 15% over the next 12 months, despite expectations that risk-weighted asset growth will moderately outpace internal capital generation. It also reflects our view that asset quality will continue to stabilize, although still at weak levels, while the bank will maintain its above average funding and adequate liquidity over the next 12 months.
However, the rating agency warned that, “We could lower the ratings on First Bank if we saw a sharp deterioration of capitalization due to higher risk weights (caused by a devaluation of the Naira) or weaker asset quality due to higher credit losses than anticipated.
“A positive rating action on First Bank would depend on the bank substantially improving its asset quality indicators, while maintaining its capitalization, business position, and funding and liquidity at levels commensurate with a higher rating.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In 2025, Access Holdings Plc lowered its operational emissions by 28.47 per cent by growing its green asset portfolio to N92.15 billion, though still far from its N475 billion target.
Details of its 2025 Sustainability Report showed that operational emissions fell to 49,352 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 57,176 tonnes in 2024, supported primarily by branch solarisation across 263 locations and the deployment of 323 solar-powered ATMs, largely across Access Bank in Nigeria.
The organisation applies the operational-control approach under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for emissions across its African footprint, with Access Bank representing the largest share.
The report reinforces its strategic shift from scale to value by showing how sustainability is being embedded in capital allocation, risk management, product development and operations.
During the year, Access Holdings deployed N72.3 billion under its Sustainable Finance Framework to eligible environmentally beneficial projects and grew its cumulative sustainability-focused loan book to $1.269 billion.
Beyond environmental outcomes, the report highlights the group’s contribution to inclusive economic participation.
In 2025, Access Holdings extended access to finance to 2,528,117 low-income individuals and onboarded 78,438 new MSMEs onto its financing platform.
Across the institution, 2.8 billion transactions were processed during the year, underscoring its role as core financial infrastructure for Africa’s real
economy. Gender-lens lending also progressed, with 354,156 loans extended to women and women-owned businesses, totalling N67.4 billion, equivalent to 24 per cent of the relevant loan portfolio.
Its Corporate Social Investment programmes reached 2,439,480 beneficiaries across education, health, entrepreneurship and the environment, delivered with partners, including UNICEF, HACEY Health Initiative and the Kenya Forest Service.
Employees recorded 359,500 volunteer hours with 100 per cent participation, while more than 50,000 trees were planted. The group notes that 2025 community figures follow a board-mandated tightening of its impact-measurement methodology and are not directly comparable with prior years. Women represent 49 per cent of the workforce, and the Access Holdings board comprised nine directors with 44.4 per cent female representation. Employee satisfaction rose to 87 per cent against an 80 per cent target, while attrition eased from about 13 per cent to about 11 per cent.
For the second straight year, Access Holdings reported zero material regulatory penalties relating to sustainability and zero cybersecurity breaches.
It mobilised $185.38 million, equivalent to N266.83 billion, in concessional funding from development finance institutions during the year and allocated a sustainability budget of N4.8 billion from profit before tax.
Sales-facing staff in the banking subsidiary carry green-portfolio targets within their individual performance measures, linking strategic sustainability goals to day-to-day execution across governance, strategy, risk management, capital allocation, products and operations.
To strengthen credibility and comparability, the report was prepared using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, specifically IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, as the primary framework, with the GRI Standards (2021) and the SASB Standards applied as complementary references.
“Our 2025 Sustainability Report reflects the discipline with which we are converting scale into value. We reduced operational emissions by 28.47 per cent,
grew our green asset portfolio to N92.14 billion and extended financial access to about 2.5 million low-income individuals.
“These outcomes show that sustainability is not separate from our business; it is central to how we create value, manage risk and support inclusive growth across Africa,” the chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Innocent Ike, stated.
Looking ahead, the company promised to deepen the measurable impact of its sustainability agenda, accelerate the transition of its portfolio towards low-carbon and climate-resilient assets, and grow the green asset portfolio towards the N475 billion target.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it has paid the insured deposits of about 700,000 customers of the defunct Heritage Bank and has commenced the reimbursement of depositors of 46 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose operating licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The chief executive of NDIC, Mr Oludare Sunday, made this known on Wednesday during a retreat for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters in Lagos.
He said the corporation immediately began settling the insured deposits of customers after the CBN revoked the licences of the 46 microfinance banks and appointed the NDIC as their provisional liquidator.
“We are working on those. The CBN revoked the licences, and we were appointed as the provisional liquidator. We have started paying depositors of those banks, and gradually we intend to cover all the insured depositors,” he said.
Mr Sunday explained that the NDIC’s responsibility extends beyond paying insured deposits to recovering outstanding loans owed to the failed institutions and disposing of their assets to generate funds for the settlement of uninsured depositors.
“Our function as liquidator involves the payment of guaranteed sums. Thereafter, we go after those who owe the institutions and have not paid. We also ensure that we sell the available assets and realise their investments towards paying the uninsured portion of the deposits. So, we have started paying the guaranteed deposits. What we are doing now is also realising the assets of those institutions,” he stated.
Although he declined to disclose the exact number of depositors of the failed microfinance banks who had been reimbursed, Sunday said the Corporation was working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to identify depositors through their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to ensure seamless payments.
“So, the more accounts we discover, the more payments we make,” he added.
Providing an update on the liquidation of Heritage Bank, the NDIC chief said about 700,000 depositors had already received their insured deposits, while efforts were ongoing to trace other customers whose identities could not be verified from available records.
He attributed the challenge to legacy accounts created before the introduction of the BVN system, as well as incomplete customer records inherited from banks that were later merged into Heritage Bank.
“If you know Heritage Bank, you know it is an amalgamation of several banks, including the acquisition of Enterprise Bank in 2014. So, if you think of banks like Guardian Express and Spring Bank, they are all part of Heritage Bank.
“There are depositors we have not been able to trace, and this is an opportunity for them to come forward. I am sure many of us did the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and may have left some money in an account, but there was no BVN then.
“Even the addresses we had were sometimes things like ‘opposite filling station.’ How do you trace such a person? Once they come forward, and for those we have been able to identify from the institution’s database, we have been paying them,” he explained.
Mr Sunday added that the Corporation would continue to recover outstanding loans and dispose of Heritage Bank’s assets to generate funds for the payment of liquidation dividends to depositors whose balances exceeded the insured limit.
Earlier in his remarks, he described the NDIC as a critical pillar of Nigeria’s financial safety net, stressing the need for stronger collaboration between regulators and the National Assembly as the banking sector responds to recapitalisation efforts and rapid financial technology developments.
According to him, while the ongoing banking recapitalisation programme has strengthened the resilience of financial institutions, it must be complemented by sound corporate governance, effective risk management, strict regulatory compliance and robust supervision to safeguard long-term financial system stability.
He also disclosed that more than 98 per cent of depositors, representing over 281 million accounts across insured financial institutions, are fully protected under the NDIC’s deposit insurance scheme.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Zenith Bank Plc is investigating an incident involving unauthorised access to customers’ data, noting that the breach does not involve financial information and has not compromised its banking services or digital channels.
In an email sent to customers on Wednesday, the bank stated that the incident was part of a broader global cyberattack affecting multiple international organisations across various sectors.
The lender stated that it immediately activated its incident response protocols and intensified its cybersecurity and remediation efforts upon discovering the incident.
“This incident is part of a broader, global cyber-attack targeting multiple international organisations across various sectors. Upon discovery, we promptly activated our incident response protocols, cybersecurity actions and remediation efforts,” the bank said.
The bank reassured customers that its banking services and digital channels remain secure and fully operational.
As a precautionary measure, Zenith Bank advised customers to remain alert to potential phishing attempts and other forms of social engineering.
“As a precaution, we encourage our customers to remain vigilant against phishing emails, text messages, or phone calls, and never to disclose their password, PIN, One-Time Password (OTP), or other security credentials to anyone,” the bank said.
The incident is the latest in a series of cybersecurity challenges facing Nigerian financial institutions, with banks in recent months suspending their social media operations over impersonation and other fraudulent activities.
Earlier in April, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) said it was investigating alleged data breaches involving Sterling Bank, Remita and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Nigerian banks have long been prime targets for cybercriminals because of the vast amounts of customer data and financial transactions they handle every day.
While many attacks have traditionally sought to steal funds, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting personal information, which can be used for identity theft, phishing schemes, account takeovers and other forms of financial fraud.
Cybersecurity threats have increasingly targeted Nigerian banks in recent years. In 2025, Union Bank of Nigeria warned customers about fraudulent websites and phishing campaigns designed to steal login credentials and personal information by impersonating the bank.
In August 2024, Guaranty Trust Bank experienced a domain-related security incident that temporarily disrupted access to its official website, although the lender assured customers that their deposits and banking services remained secure while it resolved the issue.
