Only six of the largest listed commercial banks in Nigeria rewarded their shareholders with a combined dividend payout of N1.27tn for the 2025 financial year, while five other profitable lenders were barred from making payouts for failing to satisfy the prudential requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Findings revealed that Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Wema Bank, and First City Monument Bank met the dividend eligibility criteria of the central bank and declared payouts. However, five other lenders withheld dividends despite recording profits due to the capital retention policy of the apex bank, mounting non-performing loans, and stringent prudential regulations.
Among the institutions that declared dividends, GTCO paid N429.830bn at N12.76 per share, Zenith Bank distributed N410.698bn at N10.00 per share, Stanbic IBTC declared N63.607bn at N4.00 per share, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated offered $40m at 0.16 cent per share, and FCMB declared N14.969bn at 35 kobo per share. Tier-1 lenders, comprising GTCO and Zenith Bank, accounted for 81.9% of the total dividend payout.
According to audited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2025, the 11 listed major banks posted a combined profit before tax of N6.4tn, reflecting a 3.8% decline from the N6.7tn recorded in 2024. Pretax profit for Tier-1 banks fell to N4.15tn in 2025 from N5.06tn in 2024, whereas Tier-2 lenders saw pretax profit increase to N2.262tn from N1.602tn in 2024.
Combined gross earnings across the sector grew to N26.4tn in 2025 compared to N23.2tn in 2024. Gross revenue for Tier-1 institutions rose collectively to N18.2tn from N16.9tn in 2024, while Tier-2 banks recorded N9.5tn against N7.6tn. Access Holdings generated the highest gross earnings among Tier-1 banks with N5.5tn, up from N4.9tn in 2024, followed by Zenith Bank with N4.1tn against N3.8tn. GTCO recorded N2.15tn compared to N2.11tn, First HoldCo posted N3.4tn up from N3.2tn, while United Bank for Africa recorded a decline to N2.97tn from N3.1tn.
Explaining the cause of the non-payout by affected institutions, the President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Fiona Ahimie, stated that capital adequacy and regulatory compliance outweighed profitability in deciding payouts. Ahimie said, “The divergence in dividend payments among Nigerian banks this year was primarily driven by differences in capital strength, regulatory compliance, earnings quality and strategic priorities, rather than profitability alone.” She noted, “Some banks declared dividends because they maintained strong capital adequacy ratios, delivered robust earnings and were able to satisfy regulatory requirements while retaining sufficient capital to support future growth.” She added, “Others, despite reporting profits, opted not to pay dividends because preserving capital became a higher priority.” She pointed out, “This was influenced by the banking sector’s recapitalisation, the need to strengthen balance sheets, higher risk asset provisioning and, in some cases, regulatory restrictions on dividend distribution where prudential requirements were not fully met.”
Addressing the implications for investors and depositors, Ahimie remarked, “The immediate implication is a divergence in returns. Income-focused investors who rely on dividend payments may shift their preference towards banks with stronger capital positions and consistent payout records.” She added, “For banks that suspended dividends, there could be short-term pressure on their share prices as investors reassess valuation and income expectations.” She stated, “However, if retained earnings are deployed effectively to strengthen capital and support future earnings growth, the decision could ultimately create greater long-term shareholder value.”
Regarding bank customers, Ahimie explained, “For customers, the impact is relatively limited in the near term. A bank’s decision not to pay dividends does not necessarily indicate financial distress.” She noted, “In many cases, it reflects a conservative capital management strategy designed to improve resilience and enhance the bank’s capacity to support lending, digital investments and business expansion.” She added, “Stronger capital positions ultimately translate into greater confidence in the banking system.” On the future outlook, she stated, “The outlook for the banking industry remains constructive.” She said, “As most banks already met the recapitalisation and other regulatory requirements, dividend payments are expected to become more stable and predictable. So they are likely to maintain relatively consistent distributions due to their stronger earnings capacity and capital positions.”
Also offering insight, an analyst at Highcap Securities Limited, David Adonri, pointed out that regulatory checks prevented weaker balance sheets from distributing cash. Adonri said, “Several banks did not pay dividends for the financial year ended December 31, 2025, because after reviewing their financial accounts, CBN was not convinced that they were strong enough to pay dividends.” He added, “That was a stringent move by CBN to safeguard the interest of depositors notwithstanding the expectation of investors.” He noted, “CBN stopped the banks affected from paying dividends because when the forbearance given banks in respect of partial provisioning for doubtful credits lapsed, the banks did not have sufficient retained profits after application of full provisioning.” He disclosed, “Some of the banks were faced with the need for funds to redeem their pending foreign debt obligations which would have been hampered if they dissipated their cash on dividends.” Adonri stressed, “With this kind of stern regulatory action by CBN, shareholders will be forced to scrutinise the management of their banks to forestall any future threat to their dividend income.” He noted, “Banking is a delicate business. It requires stringent monitoring from regulators and shareholders to prevent abuses and failure. The action of CBN in stopping payment of dividends by some banks should boost depositors’ and investors’ confidence in the industry.”
Similarly, investment banker and Chartered Stockbroker, Tajudeen Olayinka, attributed the non-payouts to regulatory enforcement regarding provisions and write-offs. Olayinka said, “The inability of some Nigerian banks to pay dividends from their 2025 accounts arose from deliberate regulatory pushback.” He added, “Many of the affected banks had huge final write-off from regulatory forbearance which could impact their balance sheets if they were allowed to pay dividends.” He noted, “It was CBN that refused to approve payment of dividends by these banks, by invoking its regulatory power over the banks.” On the industry outlook, Olayinka noted, “The industry has bright future. Most of the banks affected actually proposed to pay dividends, in spite of the need to end forbearance.” He stated, “So, it wasn’t that they didn’t have enough, CBN just felt it might appear excessively imprudent if the affected banks were allowed to pay dividends alongside huge provisions and write-off they were compelled to make.” He added, “Some of the banks were also exposed to a huge syndicated loan default from Nestoil which they have now fully provided for. I must say that the current regulatory stance imposes discipline and prudence on Nigerian banks, which is positive for the industry and key stakeholders.”
In his assessment, Kasimu Kurfi stated, “The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has said that those banks that did not pay dividend were not able to clean their impairments and were denied to pay dividends”. He added that one Tier-1 bank was restrained from distributing dividends due to an exposure to its foreign subsidiary that reached about 20% of shareholders funds, surpassing the 10% limit established under prudential guidelines. Kurfi stated, “The banks needs to either increase their shareholders’ funds or sell some of their holdings to align with the maximum limit of 10% shareholders’ funds before they can be allowed to pay dividends to shareholders,”.
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