First Holdco, four other banks provision for bad loans raise to N2.4trn in 2025

Five listed Nigerian Tier-1 banks, have released their full-year audited 2025 results for the period ended December 2025, reporting a combined impairment charges on loans to customers of N2.4 trillion compared to N1.44 trillion booked in 2024.

This represents a 64per cent YoY growth and marks the highest provision on loans and advances to customers in the last three years.

In 2023, the five banks made provision of N916.54 billion.

The banks are FirstHoldco, United Bank of Africa, Guaranty Trust Holdings, Access Holding and Zenith Bank.

By the end of 2025, the combined loans and advances to customers reported by the five banks stood at N43 trillion, representing an increase of about 8% compared to N39.96 trillion recorded in 2024.

From these loans, the banks recorded combined interest income from loans and advances to customers of N7.1 trillion; out of the total interest income of N14.5 trillion.

Among the five banks, GTCO stood out as the only lender to record a decline in impairment charges in 2025.

Net impairment charges on loans and advances to customers fell by 51.40per cent to N66.4 billion in 2025 from N136.7 billion in 2024, despite growth in the customer loan book from N2.79 trillion to N3.13 trillion.

The decline appears to be largely driven by lower Stage 3 impairments, which dropped to N49.4 billion in 2025 from N64.6 billion in 2024. 

This supported the bank’s capital position, with its capital adequacy ratio rising to 43.82per cent from 39.31per cent in 2024.  Access Holdings recorded the second-lowest impairment charges of N287 billion in 2025 from N93 billion in 2024.

This came as the bank’s customer loan book expanded to N13.34 trillion in 2025 from N11.49 trillion recorded a year earlier, maintaining one of the largest lending portfolios among the Tier-1 lenders.

From these loans, the bank earned interest income of N1.9 trillion in 2025, compared to N1.77 trillion in 2024, out of total interest income of N3.55 trillion, placing it just behind Zenith Bank Plc in overall interest income generation.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio also improved to 18.12% in 2025 from 18.03% in 2024, reflecting a stronger capital buffer

A review of the impairment table suggests that most of the provisioning pressure came from Stage 3 credit-impaired loans, which stood at N133.5 billion by the end of 2025.

The bank also wrote off N309.5 billion during the year.

For UBA, it  recorded impairment charges on loans and advances to customers of N381 billion in 2025, up 54% from N246.9 billion recorded in 2024.

This came despite only modest growth in the bank’s customer loan book, which rose by 0.98% to N7.02 trillion in 2025 from N6.95 trillion in 2024.

The increase in impairments appears to have been largely driven by a sharp rise in Stage 3 credit-impaired loans, which increased to N350.7 billion in 2025 from N196.7 billion in 2024.

First HoldCo recorded the 2nd highest impairment charges with net impairment on loans and advances to customers rising to N786.8 billion in 2025 from N371 billion in 2024.

This came from a customer loan book valued at N8.97 trillion, the third largest among the five banks, compared to N8.77 trillion recorded in 2024, representing an increase of N198.4 billion or 2.26per cent year-on-year.

IN addition,  Zenith Bank recorded the highest impairment charges on loans and advances to customers, rising to N843.4 billion in 2025 from N594.2 billion in 2024.

This stemmed from a customer loan book of N10.45 trillion, representing a 4.48% increase from the N9.97 trillion recorded in 2024, making it the second-largest loan portfolio among the banks.

From the loan book, Zenith earned interest income of N1.82 trillion in 2025, accounting for 49.66% of the bank’s total interest income of N3.67 trillion, the highest total interest income recorded among the five banks.

The sharp rise in impairments appears linked to significant Stage 2 and Stage 3 exposures within the loan portfolio.

Stage 2 loans stood at N3.35 trillion with provisions of N634.7 billion, while Stage 3 loans amounted to N338.4 billion with provisions of N241 billion.

Despite this, the group’s capital adequacy ratio declined to 24.30% in 2025 from 26.25% in 2024.