Zenith Bank tops in Nigeria by Tier-1 capital

Zenith Bank tops in Nigeria by Tier-1 capital

A woman walks past a closed bank in a Lagos street in south west Nigeria October 12, 2004. PHOTO: Reuters

Zenith Bank Plc has emerged as number one Bank in Nigeria by Tier-one Capital in the 2020 Top 1,000 World Bank Ranking, published by The Banker Magazine.

The bank, in a statement on Thursday in Lagos, said that it climbed a whopping 29 spots from 425 in 2019 to 386 in the 2020 global ranking of banks.

The statement noted that the bank retained its position as the number one Tier-one bank in Nigeria with Tier-one capital of 2.79 billion dollars.

According to the statement, this figure represented an increase of 16.1 per cent when compared with the 2.40 billion dollars achieved in the 2019 ranking.

It noted that the ranking published in July 2020 edition of The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group, United Kingdom, was based on the 2019 year-end Tier-one capital of banks globally.

Commenting, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, said that the ranking had attested to the bank’s market leadership.

Onyeagwu said the ranking was the outcome of a well-thought-out strategy of always delighting and creating value for its teeming customers through a broad range of superior product offerings, best-in-class service and top-of-the-range technology.

“Tier-one capital describes the capital adequacy of a bank and it is the core measure of a bank’s financial strength from a regulator’s point of view,” he stated.

Onyeagwu noted that the bank had clearly distinguished itself in the Nigerian financial services industry through superior quality service, unique customer experience and sound financial indices.

“The bank, with a knack for setting the pace and raising benchmarks, is a clear leader in the digital space with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products, solutions and an assortment of alternative channels,” he said.

The bank, as a testament for its resilience and market leadership, announced a profit after tax of N208.8 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2019, achieving the feat as the first Nigerian bank to cross the N200 billion mark.

It also, for the first quarter ended March 31, posted gross earnings of N166.8 billion and profit before tax of N58.8 billion.