{"id":10046,"date":"2026-11-05T14:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T14:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/05\/access-holdings-foreign-operations-drive-82-of-banking-earnings-as-profit-rises-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T14:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T14:47:28","slug":"access-holdings-foreign-operations-drive-82-of-banking-earnings-as-profit-rises-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/05\/access-holdings-foreign-operations-drive-82-of-banking-earnings-as-profit-rises-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Access Holdings\u2019 foreign operations drive 82% of banking earnings as profit rises – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Access Holdings Plc\u2019s foreign operations accounted for 82.2 percent of its Banking Group\u2019s profit before tax in the nine months ended September 2026, underscoring the growing contribution of its international businesses.\n<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s unaudited financial results, seen by BusinessDay, showed that profit before tax rose by 8.3 percent to N667.4 billion from N616.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, while profit after tax increased by 5.9 percent to N474.2 billion from N447.5 billion.\n<\/p>\n

The growing contribution of international operations highlights how Access Holdings\u2019 earnings base has expanded beyond Nigeria, with its Rest of Africa and International Banking subsidiaries collectively accounting for more than four-fifths of the Banking Group\u2019s profit before tax.\n<\/p>\n

International Banking subsidiaries contributed 43.7 percent of the Banking Group\u2019s profit before tax, while Rest of Africa operations accounted for 38.5 percent. Nigeria contributed the remaining 17.8 percent.\n<\/p>\n

Overall, the Banking Group accounted for 96 percent of the group\u2019s unaudited profit before tax during the nine-month period.<\/p>\n

The geographic distribution of earnings reflects the increasing significance of Access Holdings\u2019 regional and international footprint as it seeks to deepen customer relationships and expand activities across trade finance, transaction banking, payments and treasury services.\n<\/p>\n

Despite the growing contribution from overseas markets, the group\u2019s earnings performance was also supported by a significant reduction in impairment charges and stronger fee-based income.\n<\/p>\n

Impairment charges fell by 73.5 percent to N92.9 billion from N350 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, lifting net interest income after impairment by 32.1 percent to approximately N1.2 trillion from N908 billion.\n<\/p>\n

Interest income increased by 6.9 percent to N3.1 trillion, while interest expenses rose by 10.1 percent to N1.8 trillion. Consequently, net interest income grew by a more modest 2.7 percent to N1.3 trillion.\n<\/p>\n

The reduction in impairment charges therefore played a significant role in the improvement in earnings, with the stronger performance after impairment contrasting with the relatively slower growth in net interest income.<\/p>\n

Fee-generating activities also provided support. Net fee and commission income increased by 12.4 percent to N534.9 billion, driven by an 8.4 percent increase in fee and commission income to N650.9 billion and a 6.9 percent decline in related expenses to N115.9 billion.\n<\/p>\n

These movements lifted core operating income by 5.4 percent to N1.83 trillion from N1.73 trillion in the corresponding period.\n<\/p>\n

However, rising operating costs continued to weigh on the group\u2019s performance.\n<\/p>\n

Operating expenses increased by 11.8 percent to N1.3 trillion, while total other operating income declined by 40.8 percent to N234.5 billion. Consequently, total operating income fell by 3.2 percent to N2.06 trillion from N2.13 trillion.\n<\/p>\n

The mixed operating performance highlights the challenge facing the group as it seeks to improve earnings quality while managing the costs associated with its extensive operations.<\/p>\n

Access Holdings\u2019 total assets stood at N52.6 trillion as of September 30, 2026, representing a 1.7 percent increase from N51.7 trillion at the end of December 2025.\n<\/p>\n

Customer deposits rose by 6.6 percent to N36.9 trillion, while loans and advances to customers increased by 7.4 percent to N14.3 trillion. Shareholders\u2019 funds remained broadly stable at N4.5 trillion.\n<\/p>\n

The group is now placing greater emphasis on extracting stronger returns from this balance sheet through its Scale-to-Value strategy, which shifts its focus from expansion towards capital productivity, operating efficiency and sustainable shareholder returns.\n<\/p>\n

The strategy prioritises stronger execution, risk governance, regulatory compliance, disciplined capital allocation and the development of recurring income streams.\n<\/p>\n

Another significant issue for the group is its ongoing effort to resolve its regulatory position under Section 19(8)(c) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).<\/p>\n

According to the results, Access Holdings has identified capital recalls from six banking subsidiaries which, when completed, are expected to bring Access Bank\u2019s investment-in-subsidiaries ratio within the statutory 10 percent threshold.\n<\/p>\n

Management said the recall process had been completed in one subsidiary, while shareholder approvals had been obtained in four of the remaining five subsidiaries. Regulatory approvals and other required processes are being pursued across the remaining subsidiaries.\n<\/p>\n

The group expects to complete the programme within the Central Bank of Nigeria\u2019s prescribed compliance timeline, subject to the necessary approvals.\n<\/p>\n

The regulatory issue has constrained the group\u2019s dividend-paying capacity, making the completion of the capital recall programme important for shareholders anticipating future distributions.\n<\/p>\n

However, the group disclosed that any dividend decision will remain subject to the financial position, distributable reserves, capital requirements and regulatory approvals.<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Access Holdings Plc\u2019s foreign operations accounted for 82.2 percent of its Banking Group\u2019s profit before tax in the nine months ended September 2026, underscoring the growing contribution of its international… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}