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Access Holdings Topsin Asset Qualityin Proshare’s 2025Tier1 Banking Rankings
Access Holdings PLC has been ranked the Tier 1 bank
withthebestassetqualityinNigeria,havingpostedthelowestNon-PerformingLoan
Ratio(NPLR)at2.76percent,accordingtoProshare’s2025Tier1BankingReport
released, recently. This marks a significant achievement for Access Holdings, reinforcing
its leadership in credit discipline, risk management, and sustainable lending practices.
The report, titled “The Class of 2025: Getting Bigger, Bolder, and Dominant”, ranks
AccessHoldingssecondoverallintheTier1category,placingjustbehindEcobank
TransnationalIncorporated(ETI),whichledwithapercentilescoreof100.Access
Holdingsfollowedcloselywitha91stpercentileranking,aheadofZenithBankat73
percent, FirstHoldco at 82 percent, UBA at 64 percent, and GTCO at 55 percent.
In terms of NPLR performance, Access Holdings maintained a remarkable 2.76 percent,
outperforming Zenith Bank at 3.54 percent, GTCO at 4.07 percent, UBA at 3.80 percent,
ETI at 6.25 percent, and FirstHoldco at 6.70 percent. This places Access Holdings at the
forefrontofassetqualitymanagementamongNigeria’stopbanksandreaffirmsits
reputation for operational discipline amid market volatility.
Commenting on the achievement, Bolaji Agbede, Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of
Access Holdings PLC, said: “This ranking is not just a measure of our financial health; it
reflects the strength of our governance, thequality of our decision-making, and the focus
we place on long-term value creation. It is a testament to the discipline of our people and
the effectiveness of our pan-African strategy.”
She added: “At Access Holdings, we believe that sustainable success lies in balancing
growthwith resilience.Wewill continuetoexecutewith precision,buildwithpurpose, and
innovate with integrity as we expand our presence across Africa and beyond.”
The 2025 edition of the Proshare Bank Strength Index (PBSI) introduces a recalibrated
framework that reflects the realities of the ongoing recapitalisation exercise in Nigeria’s
bankingsector. Thisedition goesbeyond traditionalfinancialmetrics andincorporates
broaderdeterminantsofprofitability,stability,andstakeholdervalue.ThePBSImodel
emphasisescapitaladequacyandscale,assetqualityandsustainablegrowth,digital
transformation andearnings diversification,governance qualityand boarddiversity, as
well as profitability and cost-efficiency.
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www.accessbankplc.comAccessHoldingsdemonstratedstrongfundamentalsacrossalltheseparameters.Itclosed Full Year 2024 with total assets of 41.5 trillion and a loan book of 13.1 trillion.₦ ₦The Group’scapitaladequacyratiostoodat20.46percent,whileassetgrowthfortheperiodreached55.49percent.Itscostofriskwasheldat1.25percent,netinterestmargin recorded at 6.80 percent, and earnings growth was an impressive 88.05 percent,all indicators of a business built on financial soundness and execution excellence.Speaking at the launch event, Olufemi Awoyemi, Chairman of Proshare, described thereport as a vital mirror into the shifting dynamics of Nigeria’s financial services industry.“AccessHoldingshasprovenitselfasastrong,adaptiveinstitution.Itsrobustcapitalbase, successful fundraising, and continental expansion efforts show a group that is notonlygrowingbutevolving.Asrecapitalisationreshapesthebankinglandscape,institutions like Access Holdings will continue to define the future of finance in Africa.”He further remarked on the nuance behind E
