• Seven of Nigeria's top 11 listed banks missed the March 31 deadline for 2025 audited accounts, all citing pending Central Bank approval
• The bottleneck reflects the concurrent end of regulatory forbearance, forcing fresh CBN validation of capital adequacy and loan provisions
• Cardoso's "zero tolerance" pledge clashes with a regulator-driven backlog, denting Lagos's credibility as recapitalization closes strong

Seven of Nigeria's eleven largest listed banks missed the March 31 regulatory deadline to file audited 2025 accounts, with only Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Co., Wema Bank Plc and Ecobank Transnational Inc. meeting the Nigerian Exchange requirement as of April 17.

Access Holdings Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, First HoldCo Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Sterling Financial Holdings Co. and Jaiz Bank Plc each notified the bourse of delays, according to filings posted on the exchange's corporate disclosure portal. All cited pending approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria as the primary cause. FCMB Group Plc flagged a similar postponement on March 4.

"When banks are undergoing capital strengthening and balance sheet adjustments, regulators typically conduct deeper scrutiny," Tunde Adeola, a Lagos-based banking analyst, said, according to Blueprint newspaper. "A short delay in audited results is usually procedural rather than a red flag." The Nigerian Exchange Banking Index led declines on the main market in recent weeks.

The publication backlog marks the lowest on-time compliance rate among Nigerian tier-1 lenders in recent years, casting a shadow over a recapitalisation program that raised 4.65 trillion naira ($3.38 billion) from 33 banks by the March 31 capital deadline, the CBN said in an April 1 statement. Domestic investors supplied 72.55% of the fresh equity, with the rest sourced from international markets.

Forbearance exit

The bottleneck reflects the concurrent end of regulatory forbearance, a relief regime that had allowed lenders to defer full provisioning on stressed loans for several years. Reclassifying those exposures at audit requires fresh central bank validation of capital adequacy and asset quality, according to bank filings and supervisory notices posted on the exchange's disclosure portal. Minimum capital adequacy ratios remain at 10% for regional and national banks and 15% for lenders with international licenses.

Access Holdings, the first Nigerian lender to meet the new 500 billion-naira capital threshold for international licenses, obtained two extensions — in February and March — before missing the April deadline again. The group's shares fell 11.95% this year, underperforming the NGX All-Share Index, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Fidelity Bank disclosed on April 9 that its 2025 accounts had been submitted to the CBN for approval, and that its insider trading window would remain closed until 24 hours after publication. FCMB reported a pre-tax profit of 200.91 billion naira in unaudited 2025 results filed on January 29, an 80% increase from the prior year.

"Our stance on corporate governance is unequivocal: zero tolerance for violations," Governor Olayemi Cardoso said at an International Monetary Fund regional forum in Abuja on March 25, according to a statement on the CBN's website. "By ending years of regulatory forbearance, we have reinforced accountability." The approval backlog complicates that message, with the same regulator now pacing public disclosures it has mandated.

Further slippage past mid-May would trigger escalating daily penalties under the listing rules, and persistent defaults can lead to trading suspensions. In 2025, the Nigerian Exchange Regulation Ltd. fined 34 listed companies a combined 540.37 million naira for late disclosures, including Jaiz Bank at 9.6 million naira and First HoldCo at 1.7 million naira. Banking and financial services firms accounted for 96.3 million naira of that total.

Ecobank told the exchange on March 31 that it expects to publish by April 30. Investors are also tracking foreign bids for Union Bank of Nigeria Ltd. and Keystone Bank Ltd., with United Arab Emirates-based consortia among reported suitors, Proshare reported earlier. A Central Bank of Nigeria statement on the remaining approval timeline is expected in the coming weeks.

Idriss Linge