Despite huge profits they made, only six of Nigeria’s biggest listed banks rewarded shareholders with a combined N1.27 trillion dividend for the 2025 financial year, while five other profitable lenders were barred from making payouts after failing to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s prudential requirements, the Vanguard online reports.
According to the news medium, findings, report showed that: GTCO, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Wema Bank and FCMB passed the apex bank’s dividend eligibility test and declared payouts.
However, five other banks, despite posting strong profits, withheld dividends as the CBN’s capital retention policy, rising non-performing loans and other prudential guidelines constrained their ability to reward share
CBN’s prudential guidelines and rising Non-Performing Loans, NPLs, in many banks were responsible for the non-payment of dividends by the banks for the financial year ended 2025.
Findings by Financial Vanguard showed that six banks paid dividends totaling N1.27 trillion to their shareholders, while five others did not pay, as they were unable to meet the dividend guideline set by the apex bank, even though they made profit.
The banks that paid dividend are: Guaranty Trust Bank (GTCO), N429.830 billion at N12.76 per share; Zenith Bank, N410.698 billion at N10.00 per share; Stanbic IBTC, N63.607 billion at N4.00 per share; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, $40 million at 0.16 cent per share; and FCMB, 14.969 billion at 35kobo per share.
The Tier-1 banks, which include GTCO and Zenith, accounted for the bulk of dividend payout, representing 81.9%
According to the audited financial statement ended December 31, 2025, the 11 big banks listed on the Exchange posted a combined Profit Before Tax (pretax) of N6.4 trillion against N6.7 trillion in the same period 2024, indicating a decline by 3.8%.
The Tier-1 banks recorded N4.15 trillion pretax in 2025 against N5.06 trillion recorded in 2024, while Tier-2 posted N2.262 trillion against N1.602 trillion in 2024.
The banks recorded combined gross earnings of N26.4 trillion in 2025 against N23.2 trillion in 2024. The Tier-1 banks’ gross earnings rose broadly, with the total amount collectively rising to N18.2 trillion from N16.9 trillion in the same period of 2024, while Tier-2 recorded N9.5 trillion from N7.6 trillion.
The growth in gross earnings by the Tier-1 banks was led by Access Holdings recording N5.5 trillion in 2025 up from N4.9 trillion reported in 2024, while Zenith Bank followed with N4.1 trillion up from N3.8 trillion. GTCO saw its gross revenue rise slightly to N2.15 trillion in 2025 from N2.11 trillion in 2024.
First HoldCo recorded an increase to N3.4 trillion against N3.2 trillion, while UBA recorded a slight decline to N2.97 trillion from N3.1 trillion.
