CBN Forbearance: FCMB Lists N23bn Shares from Loan Conversion on NGX

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The 3,166,284,712 ordinary shares of FCMB Group Plc converted to equity from debt to exit the forbearance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

The equities, valued at about N23.1 billion, were listed on the trading platform of the nation’s flagship stock exchange on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

A notice signed by the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of the exchange, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, confirmed the development.

Recall that in June 2025, FCMB said it planned to exit the regulatory forbearance regime of the central bank through the conversion of loans to equity as part of its broader recapitalisation programme set to conclude by March 31, 2026.

“The bank has one additional obligor (classified as a Stage 1 loan since drawdown to date) on the CBN forbearance for Single Obligor Limit (SOL).

“This Obligor will be brought within SOL limit by September 30, 2025, following the conversion to equity of a recently concluded N23.1 billion convertible loan and audited nine months projected retained earnings,” FCMB disclosed in a statement signed by its scribe, In a statement on Tuesday signed by Ms Funmi Adedibu.

“We intend to conclude this process, including downstreaming the capital proceeds to the bank by the end of July 2025, it added, noting that, “This would effectively take the Share Capital and Share Premium of the Bank to -N267 billion. Capital Adequacy will remain above the regulatory minimum of 15% for international banks post forbearance, reinforced with the addition of the converted equity by July 2025 and the planned audit of nine months retained earnings.”

 “FCMB Group’s Nigerian Banking Subsidiary currently has loans under CBN forbearance (credit exposures to 3 entities and 2 obligors) amounting to N207.6 billion as at 31st May 2025 (down from N538.8 billion as at September 30th, 2024),” the bank said.

“These are currently classified as Stage 2 loans. The Bank has made provisions for these loans over the last few years, and intensified resolution efforts have led to over 60% reduction in its credit forbearance exposures.

“Once these loans exit the CBN forbearance regime, we anticipate that this would lead to an initial spike in Stage 3 loans to -11.5% of the total loan book which would decline below 10% by the end of the financial year, based on anticipated loan book growth,” it further clarified.

In the circular issued this week, NGX said it has listed the N23.1 stocks arising from conversion of mandatory convertible loan (inclusive of accrued interest) at a conversion price of N7.30 per share.

“With this listing of the additional 3,166,284,712 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of FCMB have now increased from 39,605,421,562 to 42,771,706,274 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” a part of the disclosure read.