In the financial ecosystem, banks play a crucial role as important middlemen between savers and borrowers. Offering loans to people, companies, and governments is one of a bank’s major duties. This function of the bank lays the groundwork for an economy that is financially inclusive and strengthens economic growth amongst other things.
Additionally, one of the main sources of income for commercial banks is interest income, which primarily comes from client loans, which account for a sizable portion of banks' overall income. To avoid a rise in non-performing loans, banks are seeking to boost lending, albeit cautiously. These credits contribute to the development and productivity of the overall economy.
For Africa’s largest market, the aforementioned facts couldn't be any more significant. Boasting the highest population on the continent, it is only befitting that the country also has a slew of banks and branches to service the enormous amount of people.
These banks in turn do an amazing job at procuring loans for the Nigerian people. Last year was no different as numerous banks collectively dished out billions of dollars in loans.
According to a report seen in Nairametrics, a Nigerian business news platform, a report audited and published for the year ending December 2022 on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), deposit money banks in Nigeria that are publicly traded increased their client loans by 18.2% from the previous year from 17.91 trillion in 2021 to N21.17 trillion in 2022. This represents a net growth of N3.26 trillion over the previous 12 months.
The Central Bank of Nigeria also noted that by the end of 2022, private sector credit had increased by N6.55 trillion to N41.74 trillion. Additionally, recent figures show that between January and March 2023, private sector credit expanded by N1.32 trillion.
A quick examination of the eleven banks listed in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) reports showed that interest income increased by 30.6% from the prior year to N3.35 trillion in the reviewed year, up from N2.56 trillion in the year prior.
Below are 5 Nigerian banks with the most loans and advances in 2022
| Rank | Bank | Loan disbursed in 2022 | Loan disbursed in 2021 | % increase in 2022 | Interest Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Access Bank | N5.1 trillion | N4.16 trillion | 22.6% | N827.5 billion |
| 2. | Zenith Bank | N4.01 trillion | N3.36 trillion | 19.6% | N540.2 billion |
| 3. | United Bank of Africa (UBA) | N3.14 trillion | N2.68 trillion | 17.5% | N474.3 billion |
| 4. | Fidelity Bank | N2.12 trillion. | N1.66 trillion | 27.6% | N152.70 billion |
| 5. | Stanbic IBTC | N1.2 trillion | N921.04 billion | 30.8% | N119. 96billion |