The total Tier 1 capital of West and Central Africa's Top 20 banks has fallen over the past year from 15.6bn to 14.9bn, as the region's banks have struggled. There are 12 Nigerian banks in the regional table, one fewer than last year, with three from Cte d'Ivoire, two from Ghana and one each from Togo, Gabon and DR Congo.
Access Bank has overtaken fellow Nigerian bank FBN Holdings First Bank of Nigeria to become the biggest bank in the region. FBN falls to third after being overtaken by Zenith Bank. Ecobank Transnational stays in fifth place as the biggest non-Nigerian bank in the table, followed by BGFI Gabon with 1.3bn, a big rise on the 844m we recorded last year.
The history of the Nigerian banking sector has been marked by periodic waves of consolidation as the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has introduced new capital requirements in order to strength the industry as a whole. In March 2024, the CBN embarked on another round of regulatory changes, setting a two-year deadline for achieving a minimum capital level of 500bn naira 333m for banks with international operations, 200bn naira 134m for those operating nationally and 50bn naira 33m for regional and merchant banks. These are big increases, with the previous threshold for banks operating internationally set at 50bn naira. Long-term inflation and currency devaluation meant that the existing requirements were a long way from adequate.