Four of Nigeria’s leading commercial banking groups generated a combined pre-tax profit of 1.949 trillion naira from their foreign subsidiaries in 2025, representing a significant 54.77 percent of their total cumulative group profit of 3.56 trillion naira.
United Bank for Africa spearheaded the offshore earnings drive by generating 671.1 billion naira from its extensive African and European operations, closely followed by Access Holdings which secured 571.305 billion naira across fifteen international markets.
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Guaranty Trust Holding Company expanded its international profitability by 37 percent to record 375.322 billion naira from eight countries, while Zenith Bank secured 331.758 billion naira from its four offshore business units located in West Africa and the United Kingdom.
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Among individual offshore establishments, Access Bank United Kingdom emerged as the highest single foreign earner across the entire industry with 288.5 billion naira, while Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana and United Bank for Africa Côte d’Ivoire delivered dominant stellar performances within their respective regions.
This heavy reliance on cross-border revenue occurred during a period when the banks’ aggregate group profit slipped by 11 percent due to severe domestic impairments, fading foreign exchange windfalls, and spiraling operational expenses within Nigeria.
Local operating headwinds became highly visible as Zenith Bank’s Nigerian operations accounted for over 97 percent of its 742 billion naira total group impairment, while United Bank for Africa’s domestic unit absorbed over 90 percent of its 331 billion naira credit losses.
FBN Holdings did not publicly disclose its detailed cross-border breakdown for the financial year, but recent first-quarter indicators suggest a robust industry-wide domestic recovery that could potentially allow these financial institutions to compound two powerful earnings engines simultaneously.
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However, a fresh operational risk is emerging from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s proposed holding company operating guidelines, which seek to ringfence individual offshore subsidiaries as standalone regulatory entities and could rapidly erode the cost advantages historically gained through shared infrastructure.
As these newly anticipated compliance mandates take full effect, the strategic capacity of tier-one lenders to manage regional overheads while sustaining cross-border asset quality will ultimately determine the long-term viability of Nigeria’s aggressive banking expansion across the globe.
