Banking
Bidvest Risks Moody’s Downgrade Over Access Bank Takeover
By Adedapo Adesanya
Ratings agency, Moody’s, has placed the ratings of Bidvest Bank on review for downgrade, raising worries of Access Bank to properly fund the bank amid takeover plans.
Access Bank Plc, the banking subsidiary of Access Holdings Plc, entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition of 100 per cent equity stake in Bidvest Bank Limited in December.
The deal for the 24-year-old South African lender is due to be completed in the second half of 2025, upon regulatory approval.
However, in its new rating, Moody’s flagged the capacity of the Nigerian lender to fund the bank, in comparison with that of its owner, the Bidvest Group.
Bidvest, valued at R88 billion on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in December announced Access Bank as the preferred buyer of its banking unit, Bidvest Bank, in a deal worth R2.8 billion subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
The Bidvest Bank book, which mainly consists of leased assets, loans and advances, totalled R6 billion in December, funded by deposits of R8 billion.
Bidvest Bank generated a trading profit of R371 million and an operating income of R377 million in its most recent financial year.
After the finalisation of the acquisition, Bidvest Bank will be merged with Access Bank’s existing South African subsidiary to create an enlarged platform to anchor the regional growth strategy for the SADC region.
However, Moody’s has placed Bidvest Bank on review for downgrade to the following ratings: the Ba2 domestic-currency long-term issuer rating; the Aa2.za national scale domestic-currency long-term issuer rating; the P-1.za national scale short-term issuer rating; the ba3 Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment (Adjusted BCA); and the b2 BCA.
The main reason for the potential downgrade is that Access Bank’s rating (long-term deposit ratings of Caa1 positive, Baseline Credit Assessment of caa1) is far lower than Bidvest Bank’s current rating (long-term Corporate Family Ratings of Ba2 stable).
Access Bank’s Caa1 rating is judged as poor quality and very high credit risk.
“The review for downgrade on the domestic-currency long-term issuer rating and the Adjusted BCA of Bidvest Bank will primarily focus on assessing the progress in the acquisition process, including the obtention of regulatory approvals, and the likelihood of the acquisition being completed,” said Moody’s.
“A successful completion of the acquisition by Access Bank could lead to a multi-notch downgrade of Bidvest Bank’s issuer rating due to the loss of two of the notches of parental support uplift from Bidvest Group.”
“This is because the potential new shareholder, Access Bank, has both a lower capacity than Bidvest Group to support the bank, as indicated by the lower rating of Access Bank in comparison to that of Bidvest Group; and a lower rating than Bidvest Bank itself.”
Moody’s said that Bidvest Bank’s current Ba2 domestic-currency long-term issuer rating benefits from two notches of uplift from its b2 BCA. This reflects the high chance of affiliate support from Bidvest Group if the need arises.
The Bidvest Group is expected to safeguard the bank’s financial health and operational stability despite the impending divestment.
The review for downgrade on the bank’s standalone BCA looks at the uncertainties regarding the future strategic direction of the bank post-disposal.
Moody’s said that this “includes the potential disruption to its activities during the disposal process as well as the bank’s post-acquisition financial fundamentals, which will depend on how it is combined with Access Bank’s existing South African operations.”
It added that the review will also assess whether the current positioning of Bidvest Bank’s b2 standalone BCA two notches above Access Bank’s caa1 standalone BCA would remain appropriate in case of successful completion of the acquisition.
Moody’s said a parent entity’s creditworthiness can directly and indirectly affect the credit standing of its bank subsidiaries.
“The bank’s b2 BCA reflects the bank’s solid capitalisation, high liquidity and improving profitability, underpinned by solid niche franchises in the fleet finance and management segment, as well as in the foreign exchange segment,” said Moody’s
“These strengths are moderated by the bank’s weak asset quality and relatively modest deposit-gathering franchise.”
“There is limited upside potential on the ratings given the review for downgrade.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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