Access Holdings leads Nigerian lenders in credit quality, PREMIUM TIMES Annual Banking Report shows
Nigeria’s biggest banking institution Access Holdings grabbed the top position of the ranking of the country’s lenders in credit quality terms for the financial year 2024, according to PREMIUM TIMES Annual Banking Report.
The magazine, an annual special print publication of PREMIUM TIMES, Nigeria’s leading investigative news outlet, analyses the financial performance of the commercial banks in the country in the previous year, using key parameters, and also tracks the developments, trends and major events in the banking sector. It is now in its fifth year.
Credit quality evaluates the health of a bank’s credit portfolio by expressing its non-performing credit as a percentage of its gross loans and advances.
During 2024, credit quality turned out to be more problematic, compared to 2023 as the average non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of the lenders under review stood at 5.1 per cent, up from 4.1 per cent.
The upward trajectory partly resulted from the unusually aggressive monetary policy tightening that the Central Bank of Nigeria pursued all through 2024, which spurred an 8.8 per cent surge in the benchmark interest rate, adding fuel to the spike in level of loan default.
Access Holdings took the prime place in credit quality ranking on recording the lowest NPL ratio among the lenders with a score of 2.76, a modest improvement over the 2.78 recorded a year earlier.
Fidelity came second with an NPL ratio of 3.1, relative to 3.5 one year prior. Wema completed the top three with a score of 3.9, compared to 4.3 in 2023.
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About Access Holdings
Access Holdings, which was incorporated in 1989 and commenced business the same year as a commercial bank under the name “Access Bank,” became a holding company in March 2022. It now has operations in banking, payments, pensions and insurance brokerage.
The banking division has over 700 branches in 24 countries across three continents, with a customer base exceeding 63 million. Its three business segments encompass corporate & investment, commercial and retail.