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Access Holdings leads other Nigerian Banks with operations in Europe in terms of profit while United Bank for Africa (UBA) is the top player in the Rest of Africa region.
Nigerian Banks are diversifying their operations fast across the globe seeking to hedge against adverse macroeconomic shocks at home and this is beginning to pay off for the top tier lenders.
Access Holdings’ profit before tax (PBT) of N195.57 billion from its European operations beat all others as at the nine months’ period to September 2025, data compiled by MoneyCentral shows.
This was followed by Zenith Bank which reported PBT of N72.3 billion for European operations, United Bank for Africa (UBA) at N46.3 billion and Guaranty Trust Holding Company’s (GTCO) N14.86 billion as PBT for its UK operations.
When it comes to Rest of Africa ex-Nigeria where the top tier lenders have expanded aggressively, UBA comes out tops with PBT of N388.96 billion. UBA numbers are for the Half Year (H1), 2025 period as the bank did not break out profit by geographic segments as at 9Months.
It still led the pack however, as the next in line was GTCO with N291 billion from its Rest of Africa operations as at 9-Months 2025, Access Holdings at N242.49 billion PBT from Africa operations and Zenith Bank at N168.25 billion.
Geographic diversification paying off for top lenders
The tier-one lenders who have operations outside Nigeria are benefitting from the ability to tap a diverse source of revenue.
For instance, UBA’s profit before tax (PBT) from the rest of Africa of N388.96 billion is higher than Fidelity Banks total PBT of N180.5 billion as at Half Year, 2025.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings a mid-tier lender reported total PBT of N393.84 billion in 9Months 2025, which is less than the PBT Access Holdings got from its Africa and European operations of N438 billion.
It’s also less than UBA’s profit from foreign operations (Africa and International) of N435.26 billion.
For Zenith Bank, when you combine PBT from its Africa and European units it comes to a sizable N240.55 billion which is higher than Fidelity Banks profit and 61% of Stanbic IBTC’s profit in the period.
GTCO’s total profit from its international operations of N305.86 billion also dwarfs Fidelity Bank’s profit, while also being equivalent to 77.6% of Stanbic IBTC’s PBT for the period.
GTCO’s most profitable location outside Nigeria was GTBank Ghana where it booked PBT of N153.37 billion, followed by Côte d’Ivoire at N44.46 billion.
From an African standpoint, Access Holdings ($35.38 billion) now ranks 8th by total assets, dwarfing the likes of United Bank for Africa, UBA ($21.94 billion), Zenith ($21.061 billion), and FirstHoldCo ($17.72 billion), according to data from Chapel Hill Denham.
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