Access Bank leads as Bank with the most loans and advances in 2022

Publicly quoted deposit money banks in Nigeria grew their customer loan by 18.2% to N21.17 trillion in 2022 from N17.91 trillion recorded as of the previous year. This reflects a net increase of N3.26 trillion in twelve months.

This is according to data culled from the audited reports of the banks for the year ended December 2022 as released on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

Loans to customers by commercial banks recorded impressive growth in the review year, on the back of the contractionary monetary policy employed by the apex bank in the second half of the year. Between May and December 2022, the central bank increased the monetary policy rate by 500 basis points from 11.5% to 16.5%.

The tightening stance was aimed at taming the rising rate of inflation by discouraging credit, whilst mopping excess liquidity in the economy. Typically, when the CBN raise interest rates, banks also follow suit by increasing lending rates, since the cost of borrowing from the apex bank is higher and banks need to maintain a profitable spread between their borrowing costs and lending rates.

However, while higher interest rates can lead to increased interest income for banks in the short term, they may also result in a decrease in demand for credit, a tightening of credit conditions, and lower profitability for the banks.

A cursory glance at the income statement of the eleven banks showed that their interest income grew by 30.6% year-on-year to N3.35 trillion in the year under review compared to N2.56 trillion recorded in the previous year.

All commercial banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange were included in this article, with the exception of First Bank, Ecobank Transnational, and Jaiz Bank.

Breakdown of customer loan

Access Bank boasts of the highest customer loans as of December 2022 with N5.1 trillion, representing an increase of 22.6% when compared to N4.16 trillion recorded in the prior year. The bank also recorded the highest interest income during the period at N827.5 billion.

Zenith Bank’s customer loan stood at N4.01 trillion as of the review period, making it the second-largest bank by credit to customers. Its loan book increased by 19.6% year-on-year from N3.36 trillion recorded as of 2021. Its interest income also increased by 26.3% to N540.2 billion in 2022.


In the third spot is UBA. The pan-African bank reported customer loans of N3.14 trillion, in contrast to N2.68 trillion recorded in the previous year. UBA’s interest income increased year-on-year by 17.5% to N557.2 billion in 2022 compared to N474.3 billion in 2021.


In terms of growth, Stanbic IBTC recorded the highest increase, having grown its loan books by 30.8% year over year from N921.04 billion in 2021 to N1.2 trillion as of the end of 2022. Fidelity Bank followed with an increase of 27.6% from N1.66 trillion to N2.12 trillion.

Wema Bank recorded a 24.5% increase in its customer loans in 2022 to N521.4 billion from N418.9 billion recorded in the previous year.

Bottom line

Interest income is one the major sources of revenue for commercial banks, which is typically made from loans to customers, which forms a huge chunk of banks’ total revenue. This is why banks seek to increase their lending albeit cautionary so as not to increase non-performing loans.

These credits also help drive productivity and growth in the broader economy. According to data from the CBN, private sector credit grew by N6.55 trillion in 2022 to N41.74 trillion as of the end of the year. Recent data also reveal that private sector credit has increased by N1.32 trillion between January and March 2023.

Meanwhile, as the CBN continue to clamp down on inflation using interest rate hikes, banks might have to reduce their rate of lending to avoid the risk of loan defaults and non-performing loans.