By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, November 14 (Radarr Africa) – Eight Nigerian Exchange-listed banking groups earned a combined N521.79 billion from electronic banking and card-related fees in the nine months to September 2026, up 8.1% from N482.48 billion a year earlier, according to their third-quarter financial statements.
Five of the groups recorded growth in the fee lines examined, while three reported declines. The eight are Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, First HoldCo, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Wema Bank, Sterling Financial Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Access Holdings led with N172.92 billion, up 14.3% from N151.35 billion in the same period of 2025. That was 33.1% of the combined total and the largest absolute increase among the banks, at N21.57 billion. Its electronic banking expenses fell to N98.49 billion from N110.57 billion.
Ecobank Transnational reported N115.93 billion in card management fees, down 7.3% from N125.11 billion. Its disclosure covers card management fees across its multinational operations, which makes it less directly comparable with the other seven groups, whose fees are reported mainly in Nigeria.
Zenith Bank recorded N77.17 billion, up 30.7% from N59.06 billion, an increase of N18.11 billion. First HoldCo earned N73.16 billion, up 6.3%.
GTCO posted the fastest growth of the eight. Its fees rose 40.6% to N60.81 billion from N43.25 billion.
Wema Bank’s electronic banking and card fees fell 56.8% to N10.54 billion from N24.42 billion, although its total fee and commission income rose 28.4% to N55.14 billion. Sterling Financial Holdings earned N8.26 billion, up 17.2%. Stanbic IBTC Holdings recorded N3.01 billion, down 12.6%, even as its net fee and commission revenue rose 26.5% to N218.30 billion.
Excluding Ecobank, the other seven groups earned N405.86 billion from the fee lines, up 13.6% from N357.37 billion a year earlier.
The fee income came as the same eight groups reported higher profits. Their combined profit before tax rose 14.2% to N5.29 trillion from N4.63 trillion in the nine months to September 2025, helped by a 48.1% fall in net impairment charges to N977 billion from N1.88 trillion.
Net interest income across the group slipped 1.8% to N7.88 trillion from N8.02 trillion, while net fee and commission income rose 13.2% to N2.26 trillion, leaving fee income a growing share of earnings as lending margins narrowed.
At Access Holdings, impairment charges fell by N257.08 billion, or 73.5%, to N92.91 billion. Profit before tax rose 8.3% to N667.36 billion and net interest income rose 2.7% to N1.29 trillion. Group Chief Executive Innocent Ike said the improvement “demonstrates the resilience of our core earnings base.”
Zenith Bank’s profit before tax rose 1.2% to N928.80 billion from N917.41 billion, with impairment charges down by about N552 billion. Group Managing Director Adaora Umeoji said “lower funding and credit costs contributed to profitability and improved earnings quality.”
GTCO’s profit before tax fell 2.3% to N879.90 billion despite a fall of about N39.6 billion in impairment charges, with fair-value losses weighing on results. Group Chief Executive Segun Agbaje said the bank’s core earnings continued to grow.
First HoldCo’s profit before tax rose 60.8% to N911.24 billion, even though net interest income fell 16%. Trading and fair-value income rose by about N190 billion, and management said non-interest income grew by more than 143%.
Stanbic IBTC’s profit before tax rose about 35% to N531.88 billion, with trading revenue climbing to N210.13 billion from N23.86 billion. Wema Bank’s profit before tax rose 76.6% to N258.64 billion, and Sterling Financial Holdings’ rose 37.1% to N97.28 billion. Ecobank Transnational reported a marginally lower naira profit before tax of N1.01 trillion.
Access Holdings management pointed to growth in net fee and commission income and improving operating efficiency, while First HoldCo management highlighted growing transaction-led revenue.
