Access Bank, FBN Leads As Nigerian Banks Earn N200 Billion From e-commerce in 2021

Access Bank, FBN, and UBA have topped the list of Nigerian banks with the highest electronic business income in the first nine months of 2021. Between January and September 2021, the twelve Nigerian Exchange-listed banks earned N200.45 billion from their e-business units.

This is based on data from the unaudited financials of the various banks for the third quarter of 2021. Banks’ revenue from electronic banking increased by 41.1 percent to N200.45 billion in comparison to N142.1 billion in the same period in 2020.

Given the apex bank’s monetary stance of keeping interest rates low in order to encourage borrowings and stimulate the economy following the covid-19-induced recession the previous year, commercial banks have had to step up efforts to boost revenue from other revenue-generating units.

N16.67 billion – GTCo
GTCo, the newly restructured bank, generated N16.67 billion in e-business income between January and September 2021, a 91.1 percent increase over the previous year’s figure of N8.21 billion.

GTCo had the highest increase in e-business income and was able to fill some of the gap as interest income fell by 12.5 percent to N195.04 billion in 9M 2021 compared to the previous year.

Zenith Bank has a market capitalization of N23.99 billion.
Zenith Bank increased its electronic business income by 29.9% from N18.46 billion in 2020 to N23.99 billion in the current period. Interest income, on the other hand, fell by 3.1 percent to N308.88 billion, compared to N318.82 billion the previous year.

N41.9 billion – UBA
United Bank for Africa ranked third on the list, with N41.91 billion in e-business income, a 50.4 percent increase over the N27.87 billion recorded in the same period in 2020.

Similarly, its profit after tax increased by 35.6 percent to N104.6 billion, with interest income increasing by 8.4 percent to N343.7 billion in 9 months 2021.

FBN Holdings has a market capitalization of N42.02 billion.
First Bank increased its e-business income by 21.5 percent, from N34.6 billion in the first nine months of 2020 to N42.02 billion in the current period. Despite being one of the country’s oldest banks, First Bank has been at the vanguard of the mobile banking revolution.

The bank was a pioneer of the USSD platform, which is used to transfer money via a mobile phone’s text messaging application. Despite the increase in e-business income, FBN’s profit after tax fell by 24.8 percent, owing primarily to a 12.6 percent drop in interest income compared to the previous year.

N46.25 billion – Access Bank
In the nine months ending September 2021, Nigeria’s largest bank by customer base and total assets generated N46.25 billion from e-business. This is a 60.6 percent increase over the N28.8 billion recorded in the same period in 2020.

Similarly, its profit after tax increased by 19.1 percent to N121.9 billion in comparison to N102.3 billion in the first nine months of 2020. A cursory examination of the financial position reveals that Access Bank increased its total assets by 19.6 percent to N10.37 trillion from N8.67 trillion at the start of the year.