By the end of February 2023, the total assets of the Nigerian banking sector had increased by 25.12% over the previous year to N77.59 trillion. This information was provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria in a personal statement given by Aishah Ahmad, Deputy Governor of the Financial System Stability Directorate of the CBN, at the most recent meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
According to her, “Key industry aggregates also continued year-over-year upward trajectory,” with total assets increasing by 25.12% to N77.59 trillion in February 2023 from N62.01 trillion in February 2022 and total deposits increasing by the same amount to N49.36 trillion from N39.38 trillion.
She claims that in February 2023, the capital adequacy and liquidity ratios were both strong at 13.70 and 43.10 percent, while the ratio of non-performing loans was 4.2%. Notwithstanding the strong financial system fundamentals and satisfactory stress test results, she said, the Bank must remain vigilant and proactively manage emerging risks to financial system stability, especially with the challenging global economic and financial environment.
“A comprehensive review and stress testing of the Nigerian banking system by Bank’s staff, to assess the impact of continued rate hikes by the MPC, recent bank failures in the US and Switzerland, and other idiosyncratic risks, shows robustness of the financial system.