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Five listed Nigerian Tier-1 banks, also known as FUGAZ have released their full-year audited 2025 results for the period ended December 2025, reporting a combined impairment charges on loans to customers of N2.365 trillion compared to N1.44 trillion booked in 2024.

This represents a 64% YoY growth and marks the highest provision on loans and advances to customers in the last three years.

In 2023, the five banks made provision of N916.54 billion.

The banks are FirstHoldco, United Bank of Africa, Guaranty Trust Holdings, Access Holding and Zenith Bank.

By the end of 2025, the combined loans and advances to customers reported by the five banks stood at N43 trillion, representing an increase of about 8% compared to N39.96 trillion recorded in 2024.

From these loans, the banks recorded combined interest income from loans and advances to customers of N7.1 trillion; out of the total interest income of N14.5 trillion.

That said, let us look at how the banks individually performed.

Among the FUGAZ banks, GTCO stood out as the only lender to record a decline in impairment charges in 2025.

The decline appears to be largely driven by lower Stage 3 impairments, which dropped to N49.4 billion in 2025 from N64.6 billion in 2024.

This supported the bank’s capital position, with its capital adequacy ratio rising to 43.82% from 39.31% in 2024.

At the same time, the bank continued to grow its lending income.

GTCO has maintained the muted impairment charges, just like in 2025, impairment charges on loans declined by 41% to N7.949 billion from N13.484 billion in Q1 2025

Access Holdings Plc recorded the second-lowest impairment charges of N287 billion in 2025 from N93 billion in 2024.

From these loans, the bank earned interest income of N1.9 trillion in 2025, compared to N1.77 trillion in 2024, out of total interest income of N3.55 trillion, placing it just behind Zenith Bank Plc in overall interest income generation.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio also improved to 18.12% in 2025 from 18.03% in 2024, reflecting a stronger capital buffer

A review of the impairment table suggests that most of the provisioning pressure came from Stage 3 credit-impaired loans, which stood at N133.5 billion by the end of 2025.

The bank also wrote off N309.5 billion during the year.

Coming into 2026, although impairment on customers’ loans increased by 116% to N23 billion, it is still 8% of 2025 full year impairment charge

United Bank for Africa Plc recorded impairment charges on loans and advances to customers of N381 billion in 2025, up 54% from N246.9 billion recorded in 2024.

The increase in impairments appears to have been largely driven by a sharp rise in Stage 3 credit-impaired loans, which increased to N350.7 billion in 2025 from N196.7 billion in 2024.