Foreign subsidiaries of Nigeria’s four biggest banks –Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA and GTCO generated a pre-tax profit of N627.027 billion in 2023, representing a 329.61 per cent YoY growth compared to N145.953 billion in 2022.
Access Holding Plc led the pack as its foreign operations in Ghana, the UK, Gambia, South Africa, Rwanda, R.D. Congo, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mozambique, Kenya, Botswana, Cameroon and Angola generated N199.180 billion in net pre-tax profit in 2023 from 14 offshore subsidiaries.
The impressive pre-tax profit growth from its UK and Ghana operations bolstered the over 945 per cent year-over-year growth in 2023.
Access Bank Ghana posted a pre-tax profit of N77.719 billion, rebounding from a pre-tax loss of N22.294 billion, while Access Bank UK posted N98.422 billion, the highest pre-tax profit from UK operations among the four banks.
Access Holding’s revenue of N2.595 trillion, the highest among the four groups in 2023, included N271.950 billion from the rest of Africa, while Access Bank UK contributed N135.860 billion. In total, its foreign subsidiaries contributed about 16 per cent of the revenue.
According to UBA’s audited financial statements, its foreign operations in 20 African countries, including Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Tanzania, Senegal, Guinea, Cote D’ Ivoire, Gabon, Benin, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Mozambique, Cameroon, Congo DRC, Zambia and a branch in the United Kingdom, generated a pre-tax profit of N165.697 billion.
Out of the 20 subsidiaries, 16 posted pre-tax profits, led by UBA Cameroon with N28.944 billion, followed by UBA Cote D’Ivoire with N25.856 billion. However, UBA Ghana, Kenya, Guinea, and Mali recorded pre-tax losses.
Overall, the pre-tax profit growth marks a 69.40 per cent increase from the N97.816 billion reported in 2022.
Zenith Bank Plc reported earnings of N131.486 billion from its four foreign subsidiaries, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and the UK, ranking third among its peers.
In 2023, Zenith Bank reported the highest revenue from its Nigerian operation, amounting to N1.87 trillion, contributing about 87 per cent to the group’s total revenue.
Zenith Bank Ghana led the subsidiaries with a pre-tax profit of N75.206 billion, a significant turnaround from the pre-tax loss of N27.776 billion recorded in 2022 due to a high impairment loss of over N58 billion that year.
Similarly, Zenith Bank UK posted an impressive pre-tax profit of N49 billion, up from N21 billion in 2022.
Despite the impairment losses, Zenith Bank maintained its position with the highest pre-tax profit among the four banks
