Banking
CBN Action Won’t Affect FBN Holdings Asset Quality, Profitability—Fitch
By Dipo Olowookere
Fitch Ratings has disclosed that the removal of the non-executive board members of FBN Holdings Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Limited by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last month will not have an effect on the group’s asset quality, profitability and capitalisation.
The rating agency made this disclosure in a statement issued last Friday. It, however, noted that the company’s outlook remains negative, reflecting its pre-existing asset quality and capitalisation weaknesses as well as its corporate governance weaknesses highlighted by the CBN.
In the statement, Fitch emphasised that these weaknesses highlighted above could put pressure on the ratings of the financial institution.
Last week, Fitch affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of FBN Holdings Plc and its primary operating subsidiary, First Bank, at ‘B-‘ with a negative outlook.
According to the statement, the “affirmation reflects our view that the impact of the CBN replacement of FBNH and FBN’s boards, the identification of corporate governance failings and the imposition of corrective measures are tolerable at the rating level.”
The agency said it assessed the near-term financial impact of these actions on FBN Holdings and FBN and believe this is tolerable at the rating level, even though the final outcome is uncertain.
“In our view, any remedial actions imposed by the CBN, including a potential reclassification of related-party exposures as impaired, will not have a material effect on the group’s asset quality, profitability and capitalisation,” it stressed.
But Fitch pointed out that “this does not consider any possible additional actions by the CBN, especially if FBN fails to implement the regulator’s corrective measures or if there were any further uncovering of corporate governance irregularities.”
The rating firm said its analysis of FBN Holdings’ profitability metrics typically lag behind those of the other large banks, mainly due to high loan impairment charges.
“In our view, the corrective measures, including higher provisioning on related-party loans or the sale of non-permissible equity investments, would not materially affect profitability in the near term,” it said.
As for its capitalisation, Fitch said it remains weak with a high influence on the ratings. FBN reported a capital adequacy ratio of 16.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, excluding interim profits, which provides limited headroom above its 15 per cent minimum regulatory requirement.
In addition, the capitalisation metrics of the group remain vulnerable to asset-quality risks given significant capital encumbrance by unreserved impaired loans, the rating agency said.
It pointed out that the asset quality remains a rating weakness as it reported an improved impaired loan ratio of 7.9 per cent in Q1 2021 versus 7.7 per cent in FY 2020.
However, FBN Holdings reported reserve coverage of 54.5 per cent at Q1 2021 versus 48 per cent at FY 2020, which remains significantly weaker than domestic peers’.
“Our assessment indicates that if the related-party loan highlighted by the CBN were classified as impaired, the ratio would be unlikely to be above 10 per cent (excluding any new impaired loan generation from ordinary business),” it noted.
“Our conversations with FBN Holdings give us to understand there has been no adverse effect from recent events on its funding and liquidity profile, which remains healthy.
“FBN Holdings’ funding profile continues to benefit from a substantial customer deposit base, which provides around 75 per cent of its non-equity funding,” Fitch said.
Recall that on April 29, 2021, the CBN sacked the boards of FBN Holdings and First Bank in the interest of financial stability and minority shareholders.
According to the apex bank, the action was because First Bank replaced its CEO without prior notice or approval of the regulator, which the CBN said could send the wrong signal to observers.
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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