Banking
Zenith Bank Shares Crash After Declaring 25k Interim Dividend
By National Daily
For a second session in a row last Friday, Zenith Bank shares depreciated despite a sharp rise in its first-half earnings.
Last Thursday, the lender announced that its pre-tax profit in the first six months jumped 71 percent to N92.2 billion.
Afterwards, the board of directors of the financial institution declared an interim dividend of 25 kobo, an amount some investors believed was lower than expected.
According to National Daily, Zenith Bank stock fell one percent to N23.75 on Friday, the lowest since July 26.
In May 2017, the bank raised $500 million Eurobond which could increase its funding costs.
Recall that the first tier lender Q2 2017 results showed that PBT grew by a remarkable 120% y/y to N48 billion. The strong PBT growth was mainly driven by a stellar growth of 389% y/y to N88.5 billion on the non-interest income line.
Growth on this line was underpinned by a strong performance in forex trading income which grew to N46 billion from a forex loss of N496 million in 2016. In contrast, funding income came in flat y/y.
The strong revenue contribution was strong enough to completely offset increases of 196% y/y and 39% y/y in loan loss provision and opex respectively.
Further down the P&L, PAT declined by 19% y/y to N31.4 billion mainly because of a negative result of N6.3 billion in other comprehensive income line (OCI) compared with a strong gain of N30.2 billion in Q2 2016 on the same line.
On a sequential basis, the results mirrored the y/y trends. PBT was up by 9% q/q.
Again, robust growth of N199% q/q on the non-interest income line was the key driver underpinning the q/q growth in PBT. PAT fell by -19% q/ because of the negative result on the OCI line.
Compared with our forecasts, PBT beat by 22%.
However, PAT was broadly (-4%) in line with our N32.8 billion forecast.
In terms of the H1 performance, PBT and PAT expanded by 71% y/y and 8% y/y to N92.2 billion and N70.3 billion respectively.
Although both revenue lines contributed to the strong results, non-interest income which grew by 254% y/y was the major driver. The y/y growth on the funding income line was 9% y/y.
The company is proposing an interim dividend of N0.25 which is flat y/y and in line with our expectations. The proposed dividend translates to a dividend yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 11.2%.
While the strength of the non-interest income result will be welcomed, we believe the weakness on the funding income line and the spikes in impairments and opex will also attract investors’ attention.
On funding income, it appears that Zenith Bank also may have struggled to capitalise (effectively) on the elevated yields in the fixed income market because sourcing deposits may have been trickier, and the workings of the NAFEX forex market may also have led to a loss of funds from customers.
Its deposits fell -1% q/q. Pending comments from management, we believe that the bank may have capitalised on the strong set of results to book significantly higher provisions. It is not clear why opex jumped 55% q/q.
Zenith Bank’s H1 PBT tracks well ahead of consensus FY 2017 PBT forecast of N165 billion. As such, we expect to see marked upward revisions to consensus PBT forecast. The shares have outperformed the Index this year. They have gained 62.7% ytd vs. 41.8% ytd for the ASI.
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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