Banking
First Bank Restructures 15% of N1.8trn Loans as NPL Falls to 8.8%
By Dipo Olowookere
In the first six months of 2020, FBN Holdings Plc said it restructured 15 per cent of its total loan size of N1.8 trillion to minimise vulnerability.
The company made this disclosure at an analyst’ call on Monday, adding that it now has limited exposure to sectors mostly affected by COVID-19.
During the call also witnessed by Business Post, the company, which promised to increase its loans to the real sector of the economy, stated that in the first three months of this year, it restructured 6.0 per cent of its lending to customers.
The year 2020 has been under the control of coronavirus disease, causing many businesses to shut down or reduce their workforce, while the global economy has not been spared.
In Nigeria, some businesses are finding it hard to pick up and to make things easier for them, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has allowed those who borrowed from banks to restructure their repayment plans.
In June 2020, Business Post reported that 32.94 per cent of the total loan portfolio of the banking industry in Nigeria may good bad with borrowers unable to repay the credit facilities as at when due.
At a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the CBN, the Deputy Governor of the bank in charge of Financial System Surveillance, Ms Aisha Ahmed, had raised an alarm that 17 banks had submitted requests to restructure about 32,000 loans amounting to several billions of Naira going bad because of the current situation, noting that the non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio stood at 6.6 per cent at end April 2020, compared with 11.0 per cent at end April 2019.
“As at end-May 2020, staff reports indicate that 17 banks submitted requests to restructure over 32 thousand loans for individuals and businesses impacted by the pandemic, representing 32.94 per cent of the total industry loan portfolio, with the manufacturing and general commerce sectors constituting the bulk of the restructured facilities,” she had said.
During yesterday’s conference call, First Bank said it was actively pursuing recoveries on loans written-off, noting that it was also rebalancing its loan portfolio by extending advances to the real sectors of the economy such as manufacturing, trade, retail/consumer and Agric & Agro-allied sectors, including telecommunications.
At the moment, 19.8 per cent of the lender’s total loan book of N1.759 trillion is in the manufacturing sector (versus 16.5 per cent in H1 2019), while the oil/gas upstream has 17.2 per cent (17.9 in H1’19), with oil/gas downstream controlling 8.7 per cent (8.6 per cent in H1 2019) and oil/gas services having 7.9 per cent (7.8 per cent in H1 2019).
Further analysis of the First Bank’s N1.8 trillion loans showed that 51.0 per cent are in local currencies, while 49.0 per cent account for foreign currencies; though the firm said it plans to increase local lending.
It was also observed that 50.4 per cent of the loans are maturing in one year, while those maturing between 1 and 3 years account for 28.0 per cent, with 3 to 5 years accounting for 6.4 per cent and above five years accounting for 15.2 per cent.
In the first half of the year, First Bank has reduced its NPL ratio to 8.8 per cent from 9.9 per cent it was in the 2019 full year.
A breakdown showed that much of the NPLs are in the agriculture sector, accounting for 14.8 per cent. The manufacturing segment has an NPL of 4.4 per cent, real estate has 11.2 per cent, oil/gas upstream has 6.0 per cent, oil/gas downstream controls 5.5 per cent, while others have 11.3 per cent.
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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