Nigeria’s largest banks packed a record ₦24.13 trillion in cash deposits with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the end of December 2025.
This represents an 8.79% increase from ₦22.08 trillion in 2024, highlighting a financial system flush with liquidity but characterized by a high degree of caution regarding private-sector credit.
Despite the record liquidity, lending to the real sector remains constrained by high credit risks and the CBN’s stringent Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR), which at 45% remains the highest in the world.
Bank-by-Bank Breakdown of Mandatory Deposits
The large Tier-1 and Tier-2 banks account for the bulk of the restricted funds placed with the apex bank to meet regulatory minimums.
| Bank | Mandatory Deposit with CBN (₦ Trillion) |
| Zenith Bank Plc | ₦6.38 Trillion |
| FirstHoldCo Plc | ₦4.10 Trillion |
| Access Holdings Plc | ₦4.47 Trillion |
| United Bank for Africa (UBA) | ₦3.87 Trillion |
| Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) | ₦2.12 Trillion |
| First City Monument Bank (FCMB) | ₦1.02 Trillion |
| Stanbic IBTC Holdings | ₦1.11 Trillion |
| Wema Bank Plc | ₦0.92 Trillion |
| Total | ~₦24.01 Trillion (Among listed majors) |
Source: MoneyCentral, Banks financials
The CRR Constraint: The Cash Reserve Requirement remains fixed at 45.00% for Deposit Money Banks, 16.00% for Merchant Banks, and 75.00% for non-TSA public sector deposits. These funds carry no interest and are inaccessible for day-to-day lending operations.
Credit Expansion vs. Risk-Free Returns
While total loans and advances to customers across the seven large lenders grew by 7.78% to ₦53.76 trillion (up from ₦49.89 trillion in 2024), the growth rate is trailing the pace of inflation, indicating a real-term contraction in private sector credit.
-
Lending Reluctance: Confronted with higher provisioning requirements and non-performing loans in the oil and gas sector, banks are finding it more secure to park liquidity at the CBN or invest in risk-free government securities.
-
Impact on Returns: Institutional shareholders have raised concerns that mandatory cash lying fallow with the apex bank continues to limit the pool of distributable income, contributing to the omission of final dividends by several major banks for the 2025 financial year.
Follow the MoneyCentral Nigeria channel on WhatsApp: Click here!
 by the end of December 2025){kind=link}