The Nigerian banking industry is one of the most lucrative business sectors in the economy, playing a pivotal role in driving growth and development in Nigeria’s economic landscape.
Besides supporting economic activities through the provision of essential financial services, the banking sector is known for offering value to its shareholders through regular dividend payments.
Over the last five years, nine prominent Nigerian banks quoted on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) have collectively declared an astounding N1.75 trillion in dividends to their shareholders, from a total net profit of N6.8 trillion, representing an average dividend payout ratio of 26%.
This indicates how profitable the banking sector has been in recent years, boasting a cumulative net asset value of N11.1 trillion as of the end of December 2023, representing 5.1% of Nigeria’s nominal GDP (N229.9 trillion – 2023 estimate).
Meanwhile, the 25.5% average dividend payout ratio by the banks implies that, on average, 74.5% of the net profit was reinvested into the business and recorded as retained earnings.
The relatively low dividend payout ratio, however, may be attributed to the huge profits declared in 2023 following the devaluation of the naira, which increased the naira value of balance sheet items for most banks’ long positions, coupled with the CBN’s regulations around spending FX revaluation gains on dividend payments.
Nairalytics presents a ranking of publicly listed commercial banks in Nigeria based on their gross dividend payout and dividend payout ratio between 2019 and 2023. The banks have been ranked based on their cumulative dividend payout ratio over the last five years.
The dividend payout ratio is a critical indicator of how much a company returns to its shareholders in the form of dividends relative to its net income, calculated by dividing the dividends declared by the net income and multiplying by 100.
This ratio helps investors understand how much money a company returns to its shareholders versus how much it retains to reinvest in the business. A higher dividend payout ratio may indicate that a company is returning a significant portion of its profits to shareholders, while a lower ratio might suggest that the company is reinvesting more of its earnings into future growth.
It is often used by investors seeking steady returns in the form of dividends to assess if they should be investing in a particular company’s stock.
Below are the Nigerian banks that have declared the most dividends in the last five years. Our ranking is based on banks that have paid at least N50 billion combined in the last five years.
Dividend Payout Ratio: 19%
Dividends Paid: N215 billion
PAT: N1.12 trillion
Access Holdings is Nigeria’s largest bank by total assets. The bank has reported a total profit after tax of about N1.12 trillion in the last five years.
Out of these profits, it has declared an estimated N215 billion in dividends over the same period, equating to a 5-year average payout ratio of just 19%.
According to our data, the bank declared a dividend of N0.65, N0.8, and N1 in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. It also declared a total dividend of N1.50 in 2022 and increased it to N2.10 in 2023. The bank’s dividend per share rose by an estimated 35% on a compounded annual growth basis. This is the highest we have seen amongst the major banks. However, this is also because Access Holdings has typically paid a lower dividend per share compared to its peers.
Nevertheless, Access Holdings’ dividend payout ratio of 19% is not the lowest of the FUGAZ banks but could be better considering the size of their profits. Perhaps this could also be why it is the least valued of the Tier One banks.
