Nigeria’s five biggest banks, FirstBank, UBA, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and GTB raked in a total of N85 billion from account maintenance charges in the first nine months of 2022, an increase of 18.5 per cent compared to the N72.29 billion recorded in the same period in 2021.
Zenith Bank topped the list with a total income of N28.15 billion from account maintenance charges between January and September 2022, a 16.4 per cent increase from the N24.19 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
In the third quarter of the year, the bank made N8.38 billion from account maintenance, in contrast to the N8.28 billion generated in the same period of 2021.
Zenith Bank also posted a profit after tax of N111.41 billion in nine-month 2022, representing a 5 per cent increase compared to N106.12 billion printed in the corresponding period of 2021.
Access Bank, the largest commercial bank in Nigeria by total assets earned a sum of N18.71 billion in 9-month 2022, an increase of 15.3 per cent compared to N16.22 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
The bank accounted for 22 per cent of the total earnings of the five banks. Meanwhile, Access Bank recorded a 24.2 per cent increase in its account maintenance earnings in the third quarter of 2022.
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GT Bank made a sum of N15.88 billion from account maintenance between January and September 2022, which is 21.9 per cent higher than the N13.03 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter of 2022, its revenue from account maintenance charges increased by 23.4 per cent year-on-year to N6.45 billion.
GT Holdings posted a net profit of N130.35 billion in the review period, a marginal increase of 0.7 per cent compared to N129.4 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2021.
First Bank grew its account maintenance income by 12 per cent year-on-year in nine-month 2022 to N13.15 billion compared to N11.74 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
In the third quarter of the year, the financial institution made a sum of N4.04 billion from accountant maintenance, which is 5.9 per cent higher than the N3.82 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
United Bank for Africa posted N9.64 billion as revenue from account maintenance between January and September 2022, a 35.5 per cent increase from the N7.12 billion recorded in the same period last year.
UBA saw its account maintenance income surge by 80.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 to N3.05 billion from N1.69 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2021.
Nigerian banks are allowed to charge their customers a “negotiable” N1 per mille. In other words, the banks can charge N1 per N1,000 debit transactions on the current account.