Aggregate
loans on the books of eight Nigerian Banks surged to a total of N30 trillion in the first half of the year, according to experts from Vetiva Capital Management Limited.
This robust growth in Loan books was primarily attributed to the Conversion of the foreign currency (FCY) components of Bank Loans.
In their Banking earnings review, analysts highlighted Accesscorp, FBN Holdings, and United Bank for Africa as the major Contributors to the Improvement in Loan books during this period.
The surveyed Banks include Access Bank, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, and First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
The latest report also pointed out that these Banks reported substantial Forex revaluation gains, which significantly boosted their Non-interest revenue Performance.
These Gains were still positive for all the covered Banks, with GTCO, Zenith, and UBA recording the largest gains at N355 billion, N354 billion, and N348 billion, respectively.
Additionally, Customer deposits saw a significant rise, reaching N58 trillion, representing a 33% increase compared to the figures reported for the full year of 2022.
Notable Increases in Customer deposits were Observed at Access, UBA, and Zenith.
The rise in Customer Deposits was largely due to the Translation of the FCY Components of Customer Deposits, which subsequently Impacted interest expenses.
Net Interest Margin (NIM) experienced both year-on-year Increases and declines for different Banks within the coverage.
The expansion in NIMs for some Banks was attributed to a high Current Account and Savings Account mix following the translation of the FCY component of CUSTOMER deposits.
Despite a one-day holiday declared by the Federal Government on Independence Day, Investors in the equities Sector of the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) recorded a significant turnover of 2.4 billion shares worth N22.1 billion in 27,965 deals.
This marked a Notable Increase from the previous trading session and resulted in a rebound in Market sentiment.
Airtel Africa and BUA Cement were among the Key Drivers of this Positive Performance, resulting in a Year-to-Date return of +29.6%.
The Financial Services Industry led in terms of Trading volume, accounting for 52.31% of the total equities turnover volume.
The Healthcare and Oil and Gas Sectors also contributed significantly to Trading activity.
