BY BLAISE UDUNZE
In Nigeria’s banking trade, revenue has turn into extra a press launch than a efficiency. Every outcomes season, the identical storyline performs out with document income, rising belongings, and guarantees of “strong fundamentals.” Yet, beneath the eye-catching headlines lies a quiet deception of a sample of accounting charades geared toward repressing the true image of actuality and skyrocketing success.
An evaluation of the 2025 half-year outcomes from ten main {financial} establishments like Zenith Bank, GTCO, UBA, First HoldCo, Access Holdings, Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank, FCMB Group, Sterling HoldCo, and Jaiz Bank uncovered a pervasive tradition of concealment. What the market is celebrating as a season of extraordinary profitability is, in reality, a narrative of hid losses, revalued deceptions, and selective disclosure.
Zenith Bank reported a pre-tax revenue of N625.6 billion, but its buying and selling features fell by N328 billion and credit score impairments jumped 83 %. GTCO, the self-proclaimed revenue chief, confirmed N900.8 billion in pre-tax earnings, however as soon as final yr’s N523 billion one-off fair-value acquire is eliminated, precise revenue declined by 26 %. UBA’s earnings have been flattered by revaluations, whereas its curiosity bills exploded from N328.9 billion to N560.6 billion. Its buying and selling desk flipped from a N98 billion acquire to a N10 billion loss, forcing a drastic lower in interim dividends.
First Bank HoldCo’s books instructed their very own story that regardless of larger revenues, pre-tax revenue fell as a consequence of a N486 billion collapse in buying and selling revenue from a N432 billion acquire in 2024 to a N53.7 billion loss in 2025. Impairments doubled to N185 billion because the {bank} exited CBN’s forbearance regime, revealing losses lengthy deferred. Access Holdings reported N2.5 trillion in gross earnings, however its assertion of complete revenue disclosed a N62.4 billion loss to shareholders pushed by N155.9 billion in foreign exchange translation losses and N74.4 billion in fair-value write-downs. Profit on the prime, destruction of worth on the backside.
Stanbic IBTC’s progress was buoyed by asset gross sales, not sustainable revenue. Wema Bank’s celebrated 229 % revenue surge rested on a fragile base: curiosity bills rose 34 %, whereas impairment prices remained suspiciously mild at simply N532 million. FCMB Group’s digital-era optimism couldn’t conceal the 35 % droop in non-interest revenue following the lack of revaluation features, or the N36.2 billion impairment that adopted as soon as regulatory leniency expired. Sterling HoldCo trumpeted a 157 % soar in revenue, which appears to be like much less spectacular whenever you realise it was achieved within the shadow of a N100 billion recapitalization. The group admits it nonetheless wants N53 billion extra to fulfill regulatory capital. Meanwhile, its cost-to-income ratio stays a heavy 64.5 %, and non-performing loans hover above the 5 % prudential threshold.
Jaiz Bank, in the meantime, introduced N14.45 billion in revenue, however its complete belongings shrank by N100 billion, and its operational money movement swung from a N428 billion influx to a N119 billion outflow with revenue on paper and erosion in apply.
Behind the curtain of spectacular numbers, a silent manipulation is going down. Creative accounting, selective disclosures, and reclassification tips have turn into instruments within the bankers’ artwork of survival.
Insiders within the banking sector admit, off the document, that “results management” has turn into a normalised apply. The technique is straightforward as in the place the true numbers would reveal losses or mounting threat, the presentation is massaged to mirror power. Loss-making subsidiaries are quietly merged into group accounts the place their poor efficiency is diluted. Bad loans are reclassified as “restructured assets” or shifted into special-purpose autos that sit conveniently off the dad or mum {bank}’s important steadiness sheet.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bears a part of the duty. In latest years, its supervision seems extra reactive than proactive. While the apex {bank} routinely sanctions banks for minor customer-service infractions, it has been gradual to demand full disclosure on FX exposures, hidden losses, or aggressive revaluations. Transparency just isn’t a menace to stability; it’s its basis. A banking system that hides its weaknesses beneath shiny {financial} statements is sort of a home constructed on borrowed sand.
The actual downside dealing with Nigerian banking at this time just isn’t liquidity or profitability; it’s credibility. When numbers are manipulated, when press releases are crafted to deceive, and when regulators flip a blind eye, the belief that underpins the whole {financial} system begins to erode. Depositors now not consider in transparency. Investors now not belief the info. Even real success tales are considered with suspicion.
For too lengthy, the trade has mistaken notion for progress. Banks inflate curiosity revenue in a high-rate atmosphere, then bury the price of threat in footnotes. They rejoice foreign-exchange features in a single yr and quietly dismiss translation losses the subsequent. They depend on regulatory forbearance to delay recognition of dangerous loans, then name the ensuing impairments “non-recurring.”
Dividends are weaponised to sign confidence even when retained earnings are flat. Capital raises are packaged as enlargement performs when, in actuality, they’re patchwork efforts to take care of solvency. And nowhere in these outcomes, not even within the shiny CEO quotes, did we discover a critical dialogue of declining money era or sustainability of earnings as soon as rates of interest normalise. None of those manoeuvres strengthens the banking system; they solely postpone accountability.
The method ahead begins with reality. Banks should be compelled to current their financials in full, not selective highlights crafted for headlines. The CBN should demand clearer disclosures on FX positions, mortgage restructuring, and the sources of non-interest revenue, whereas requesting that banks disclose core working revenue separate from one-off features and buying and selling revenue; front-load cash-flow knowledge; publish detailed impairment breakdowns that present exposures by sector and classic; clarify capital raises transparently; and align dividends with free money movement, not beauty accounting income.
Auditors should rediscover their skilled conscience and not rubber-stamp no matter administration needs. Journalists and analysts should drill into the notes of the accounts, asking why curiosity revenue is rising whereas impairment and non-performing loans are rising too. The well being of the {financial} system relies upon not on who can publish the largest revenue determine, however on who can show that the revenue is actual, repeatable, and resilient.
Until then, the general public is suggested to learn each “record result” with skepticism. Because in Nigerian banking at this time, what the headlines rejoice, the steadiness sheets quietly contradict.
If the present development continues, the supposed “profits” of at this time could quickly be revealed because the losses of tomorrow.
A {bank}’s best asset just isn’t capital; it’s credibility. And as soon as that’s misplaced, no quantity of cooked numbers can restore it.
Blaise, a journalist and PR skilled writes from Lagos, may be reached through: [email protected]
