Fidelity, Access, UBA lead as banks go after private investments to meet CBN deadline.

As banks continue the race to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recapitalisation deadline, several banks are turning to private investors.

The CBN has set April 2026 as the deadline for all banks to achieve the new minimum capital requirements, or risk being downgraded to a lower license.

Investment banking sources have disclosed a surge in private placement discussions between banks and potential investors.

The inside sources reveal that banks are going after both foreign and domestic investors, both institutional and high net worth individuals, for private placement deals to reduce the pressure on other capital raising programs.

The material equity stakes they seek from these investors imply a minimum of 5% investments.

Trading reports also show an increasing interest in banking stocks among retail investors in the Nigerian stock market.

Fidelity Bank, Access, and UBA lead

Reports from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) show that Fidelity Bank, Access Holdings Plc, and United Bank for Africa (UBA) have been the most active stocks in the last week.

Combined, the three banking stocks accounted for 32% of total stock trading volume for the four-day trading week, which comes up to 704.639 million shares out of 2.20 billion shares traded.

The banking stocks overall topped the financial services sector activity chart with 1.43 billion shares traded in 33,095 deals.

Banks race to meet CBN recapitalisation requirement

Legit.ng earlier reported that 7 banks, including Access Bank, GT Bank, Zenith, and FCMB, had raised over N1.3 trillion.

Based on the recent financial reports filed by the various banks, only about 10% are yet to meet the new minimum capital requirement.

Currently, only about 10% of the Nigerian banks have met the new minimum capital requirement as dictated by the CBN.

The new requirements prescribes N500 billion capital for commercial banks with international licenses, N200 billion for commercial banks with national operations, and N50 billion for those with regional license.

Merchant banks equally have a N50 billion requirement, while non-interest banks with national license have a target of N20 billion, while their regional counterparts have to raise N10 billion.

Legit.ng earlier reported that smaller banks are already exploring mergers as an option to meet the requirement.

Analysts explain why banks are exploring private placement

After exploring other options, banks are reported to now be exploring private placement in a bid to retain their banking licenses.

The appeal to explore this option is also connected to the amount to be raised, and the peculiarity of the situation and timeline.

Managing Director, Arthur Steven Asset Management, Mr. Olatunde Amolegbe, said that the decision to go after private investors could be a strategic one because of the inherent benefits.

He said:

“Not only is it likely to attract better valuation for the banks’ shares, but these private investors also bring some strategic advantages in terms of expertise, knowledge and even in some cases, technology transfer, that could be of added advantages to the banks, in addition to the capital they bring.”

Managing Director, AIICO Capital, Dr Femi Ademola, noted that it is also a good way for the banks to take advantage of monies they had refunded due to oversubscription of the rights issue.

He said:

“Most of the banks that have raised funds so far recorded over-subscriptions and had to refund excess monies to investors while not raising enough to meet the capital requirement. So for those, it is easier to go after those that they refunded the monies back to and take the funds back through a less complex private placement arrangement."

He noted that the process is also less complicated and cheaper since the banks must have already identified targeted investors before getting approval.

For unlisted banks, private placement is also an important option as they cannot access capital like the listed banks through public offering.