Full List: GTbank overtakes Zenith to become Nigeria’s most valuable bank, access 5th

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), the parent company of Guaranty Trust Bank has overtaken Zenith Bank to become the most valuable commercial financial company.

According to data collated by Legit.ng from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) GTbank is now the most valuable commercial bank in Nigeria with a market capitalisation of N1.13 trillion after trading on Friday.

This happens as the shares of GTCO increased from N34.8 it traded a day earlier to N35 per share.

Market capitalization refers to how much a company is worth as determined by the stock market.

Zenith Bank sits in second place with a market capitalization of N1.10 trillion.

2023 is turning out to be a great year for Nigerian banks and the recent policies of President Bola Tinubu are even making it better.

All listed financial institutions on the Nigerian exchange have posted strong performance.

For example, First Bank recorded a whopping 414% increase in profit and has reported over N187 billion profit more than it made in the whole of last year.

Fidelity Bank has also seen its shares reclassified to a medium stock after a good performance.

Analysts are expecting even better performance in the coming months.

Ayodeji Ebo, the Managing Director/Chief Business Officer of Optimus by Afrinvest explained why banks are enjoying strong performance.

"Banks with significant income from subsidiaries outside Nigeria will benefit from the currency devaluation. This will translate into real Income and can influence dividend payments. Be on the look out for those banks.


"Most Nigeria banks H1:2023 scorecards will benefit significantly from exchange rate devaluation, booking huge exchange rate gains. This does not automatically translate into cash and may not impact dividend payments (interim and final)."

Most valuable banks from January 2023 - July 2023

1. GTBank N706.34bn - N1.13trn

2. Zenith Bank N767.64bn N1.10trn

3. Stanbic IBTC Bank N433.41bn N812.40bn

4. First Bank of Nigeria N400.23bn N712.52 bn

5. Access Bank N319.90bn N652.25 bn

6. UBA N273.59bn N509.57 bn

7. Ecobank Nigeria N206.43bn N296.34 bn

8. Union Bank of Nigeria N202.38bn N202.38 bn

9. Fidelity Bank N137.63bn N226.58 bn

10. FCMB N73.27bn N134.65 bn

11. Wema Bank N50.14bn N63.64 bn

12. Sterling Bank N40.30bn N114.01 bn

13. Unity Bank N6.42bn N19.28 bn