A Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, survey report has shown that banks recorded increased default rates on secured loans in the third quarter of the year, Q3’25.

Surprisingly, the CBN report titled: “Credit Condition Survey” which was released yesterday, showed that the default rates on unsecured loans were lower during the review period.

However, according to CBN, respondents noted that there was increased credit availability in Q3 2025 compared to the previous quarter.

CBN noted that the increase in credit availability was attributed to the changing economic outlooks for secured and corporate lending, while changing appetite for risk was the main factor that influenced unsecured credit availability.

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The survey report further stated: “Lenders reported a decrease in default rates for unsecured lending while experiencing an increase in default rates for secured lending during the review quarter.

“In terms of corporate lending, small businesses, medium-sized Private Non-Financial Corporations, PNFCs, large PNFCs, and Other Financial Corporations, OFCs, all reported lower default rates.

“Lenders reported increased availability in Q3 2025 for secured, unsecured and corporate lending.

“The increase in credit availability was attributed to the changing economic outlooks for secured and corporate lending, while changing appetite for risk was the main factor that influenced unsecured credit availability.

“In Q3’25, respondents indicated that, compared to the previous quarter, the percentage of loan approvals rose for Secured, Unsecured, and Corporate lending.

“The overall spreads on secured and unsecured lending rates to households in relation to the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) widened at -0.1 and -1.8 respectively, in Q3 2025.

“For Corporate lending, spreads on loan relative to MPR narrowed for Medium PNFCs and OFCs at 2.6 and 14.4 index points, respectively.

“Small businesses and Large PNFCs widened at -0.8 and -0.4 index points, respectively in the review quarter.”