By Ayomide Otitoju
Zenith Bank Plc has announced an impressive 90.5% increase in profit over the past year, hitting N827.2 billion in the 12 months leading up to September 2024, as per its financial report submitted to the Nigerian Exchange.
According to Zenith Bank’s unaudited financial statement for the first nine months of 2024 (9M-2024), pre-tax profit soared to a historic N1 trillion, a staggering 98.5% increase from N505.1 billion in the same period last year. This exceptional growth was driven by the bank’s core operations, even as it faced elevated costs in funding, impairment charges, and general operating expenses.
The bank’s gross earnings climbed by 119.3% year-on-year to N2.80 trillion, up from N1.278 trillion, fueled by robust interest income and non-interest revenue. Interest income alone surged by 190.2% to N1.95 trillion, reflecting the repricing of interest-yielding assets following recent monetary policy rate hikes.
On the expense side, interest payments to fund providers grew by 160.6%, reaching N666.4 billion, a slower pace than income growth, which helped boost the bank’s net interest margin. Net interest income showed substantial growth, reaching N1.280 trillion, a 208.5% increase from N415.2 billion in the same period of 2023.
Supporting overall earnings, non-interest revenue (NIR) rose 41% year-on-year to N856 billion, spurred by strong trading gains and net fee and commission income. However, operating expenses (OPEX) surged by 113.5% to N656.1 billion due to increased regulatory fees, fuel, maintenance, and IT costs.
Meanwhile, impairment charges on loans grew by 113.6% to N437.6 billion, signaling pressure on the bank’s asset quality, as its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio rose from 3.9% to 4.6%. This aligns with Moody’s recent assessment, which suggested that Nigerian banks face legacy exposure risks following COVID-19-related forbearance measures.
Zenith Bank’s financial performance underscores both strong operational resilience and the challenges posed by a volatile economic environment.
