100 days before the March 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline, 16 banks have already met the required capital thresholds, signaling a major milestone in Nigeria’s ongoing banking sector reform.

So far, the banks that have met the capital requirement for the licence categories they operate include Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), GTBank, Ecobank, Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank, Jaiz Bank, Lotus Bank, Providus Bank, Greenwich Merchant Bank and PremiumTrust Bank.

Others include Sterling Bank, Globus Bank, Citibank Nigeria and Nova Bank, bringing the number of financial institutions that have met their recapitalisation target to 16.

Several other lenders, including Fidelity Bank, FCMB Group, are still at various stages of capital raising and regulatory verification and are optimistic of also beating the deadline.

This comes as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, pointed out that the focus of the regulatory body was to ensure an orderly completion, maintain strong supervisory oversight as well as a banking sector that is more shock resistant.

In a presentation at the U.S.-Nigeria Executive Business Roundtable held in Washington D.C, this week, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY on Friday, Cardoso, pointed out that, “Nigeria is now in the final phase of its most significant banking-sector strengthening effort in over a decade. The recapitalisation programme is designed to safeguard financial stability, expand banks’ capacity to lend, and ensure the financial system is able to underpin Nigeria’s broader economic transformation.

“We’re making good progress. Sixteen banks have already met or exceeded the new capital thresholds, while 27 have raised capital through public offers, rights issues, private placements, and mergers.”

He pointed out that industry-wide stress tests also confirmed that the banking system remains fundamentally sound, liquid, and resilient.

“With about four months to the March 2026 deadline, our focus is on ensuring orderly completion, maintaining strong supervisory oversight, and emerging with a banking sector that is more shockresistant, more transparent, and better positioned to lend into Nigeria’s growth story.

“These efforts in the banking sector are complemented by broader macroeconomic and foreign exchange reforms that have been central to Nigeria’s recovery,” Cardoso added.

Analysts who spoke with THISDAY said the exercise was entering a decisive phase that could reshape ownership structures across the industry.

Besides the successful conclusion of its public offer, FCMB confirmed that it is also on track to finalise the sale of a minority stake in one of its subsidiaries before the end of December.

“We have successfully concluded our public offer and are on track to complete the minority subsidiary sale by the end of December.

“Subject to CBN capital verification (currently ongoing), shareholder approval and the required regulatory consents, we are positioned to deliver the N500 billion capital target ahead of the March 2026 deadline for our banking subsidiary, FCMB Limited,” the group said.

Analysts said while large-scale mergers and acquisitions have yet to materialise, ownership changes were increasingly likely as banks court new investors to shore up their capital bases.

For now, actually just few banks are still trying to meet the threshold, according to Head of Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto & Co., Ayokunle Olubunmi.

“In terms of mergers and acquisitions, it’s still very wide. Nothing much for now. But the way it’s looking, maybe by January or February, it might be getting better,” he said.

Ayokunle noted that private placements and rights issues could lead to dilution for existing shareholders, particularly those who do not participate in the capital-raising exercises. “There might be some change in ownership. Some people might take over, because there’s a lot of money in the economy. It’s more about what proportion of your shareholding are you willing to give,” he added.

He also noted that the recapitalisation exercise was serving as a channel to crowd in new investors and strengthen the sector’s long-term stability.

“Of course, partnership structure or ownership structure of some banks will change significantly during this process,” Ayokunle said. (Arise News)

Update news