Access Holdings Net Interest Margin to Benefit From 47% Jump in Customer Deposits

Access Holdings is set to benefit from an influx of retail deposits which occurred in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, and should boost its Net Interest Margin (NIM) and profitability going forward.

Customer deposits surged by 47% year-to-date (YTD) to N33.1 trillion as at 9 months 2025 up from just 1.8% growth YTD to N22.9 trillion as at Half Year 2025.

This was underpinned by retail deposits which rose by 129% YTD.

Despite the increase, customer deposits’ funding costs declined 1 percentage point (ppt) year on year (YoY) to 3.9% as at 9 Months 2025.

“From the 9M, 2025 results presentation, we surmise that these were largely international deposits. If sustainable, this could boost NIM outlook, which remains the lowest among peers. We model FY25F NIM of 5.9%, improving to 6.7% in Full Year 2028,” Absa analyst, Timothy Wambu, said.

Access Holdings 9M, 2025 NIM came in at 4.5%, down 0.5 percentage points year-to-date.

Absa estimates that Access Holdings loan yields came in at 14.9% (-1.3 ppts YoY) while Treasury yields fell 5.1ppts YoY to 11.5%. Interest Earning Assets growth was strong, particularly Treasuries (+53%) while loans decelerated to 9%.

Retail deposits are a cheaper source of funding for banks compared to institutional or wholesale funds. A large influx of these low-cost deposits naturally widens the Net Interest Margin (NIM).

Retail deposits are typically demand deposits (like current accounts) or savings accounts, on which banks often pay low interest rates.

By increasing the volume of these low-cost deposits (Customer Deposits: +47.0%), the bank keeps its overall Interest Expense low.

When the bank then lends these funds out (or invests in high-yielding securities) at prevailing high interest rates (Access Holdings booked Interest Income of N2.9 trillion: +21% YoY), the gap—the NIM—widens substantially.

Access had the highest customer deposits of N33.1 trillion among the Fantastic Five Banks (Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, UBA, First HoldCo and GTCO) as at September 2025, more than double GTCO‘s customer deposits which came in at N11.85 trillion in the same period.

Customer deposits for UBA stood at N23.79 trillion, Zenith Bank N23.68 trillion, and First HoldCo at N17.88 trillion as at September 2025.

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