Only six of Nigeria’s major listed banks paid dividends to shareholders for the 2025 financial year, distributing a combined N1.27 trillion, while five other profitable lenders were unable to make payouts after failing to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s prudential requirements.
Findings by Financial Vanguard showed that Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Wema Bank and FCMB received regulatory approval to declare dividends.
The other five banks, although they posted substantial profits, did not pay dividends because of the CBN’s capital retention policy, rising non-performing loans (NPLs) and other prudential conditions.
GTCO declared N429.83 billion, translating to N12.76 per share, while Zenith Bank paid N410.698 billion at N10.00 per share. Stanbic IBTC distributed N63.607 billion at N4.00 per share, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated paid $40 million at 0.16 cent per share, and FCMB declared N14.969 billion at 35 kobo per share. The Tier-1 banks, particularly GTCO and Zenith, accounted for about 81.9 per cent of the total dividend payout.
Despite the dividend restrictions, the 11 major banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange recorded a combined profit before tax of N6.4 trillion for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared with N6.7 trillion in 2024, representing a decline of 3.8 per cent.
Tier-1 banks posted N4.15 trillion in pre-tax profit in 2025, down from N5.06 trillion in 2024, while Tier-2 banks improved to N2.262 trillion from N1.602 trillion.
The banks’ combined gross earnings rose to N26.4 trillion in 2025 from N23.2 trillion in 2024. Tier-1 banks increased their earnings to N18.2 trillion from N16.9 trillion, while Tier-2 banks recorded N9.5 trillion, up from N7.6 trillion.
Access Holdings led the earnings growth with N5.5 trillion in gross earnings, compared with N4.9 trillion in 2024. Zenith Bank followed with N4.1 trillion, up from N3.8 trillion. GTCO’s gross revenue increased slightly to N2.15 trillion from N2.11 trillion. First HoldCo rose to N3.4 trillion from N3.2 trillion, while UBA recorded a slight decline to N2.97 trillion from N3.1 trillion.
Fiona Ahimie, President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, said the difference in dividend payments was driven by capital strength, regulatory compliance, earnings quality and strategic priorities rather than profitability alone.
According to her, banks that paid dividends maintained strong capital adequacy ratios, generated robust earnings and still retained enough capital to support future growth. Those that suspended payouts prioritised preserving capital because of recapitalisation requirements, higher provisioning for risk assets and regulatory restrictions.
She said the immediate effect would be a divergence in investor returns, with income-focused investors likely to favour banks with stronger capital positions and consistent dividend records. However, she added that if retained earnings are used effectively to strengthen capital and support future growth, the decision could create greater long-term shareholder value.
On customers, Ahimie said the impact would be limited in the short term because a bank’s decision not to pay dividends does not necessarily mean it is in financial distress. She described the move as a conservative capital management strategy aimed at improving resilience and supporting lending, digital investment and expansion.
David Adonri of Highcap Securities said the CBN blocked some banks from paying dividends after reviewing their accounts and concluding that they were not strong enough to distribute profits.
He explained that when regulatory forbearance on partial provisioning for doubtful loans expired, some banks no longer had sufficient retained earnings after making full provisions. He added that certain lenders also needed funds to meet outstanding foreign debt obligations.
Tajudeen Olayinka, an investment banker and chartered stockbroker, described the situation as a deliberate regulatory push-back. He said many affected banks had to make significant write-offs linked to regulatory forbearance, and the CBN considered it imprudent to allow dividend payments while those provisions were being recognised.
Olayinka added that some banks were also exposed to a large syndicated loan default involving Nestoil, for which they have now made full provisions.
Mallam Kasimu Kurfi said the CBN governor indicated that the affected banks had not fully cleaned up their impairments and were therefore denied approval to pay dividends.
He added that one Tier-1 bank was reportedly prevented from paying dividends because its exposure to a foreign banking subsidiary was about 20 per cent of shareholders’ funds, above the CBN prudential limit of 10 per cent.
According to Kurfi, such banks would need to raise additional shareholders’ funds or reduce their holdings to comply with the regulatory threshold before they can resume dividend payments.
