Zenith Bank Plc is a major financial services provider in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and Anglophone West Africa, headquartered in Victoria Island,

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. It is licensed as a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

by the

Central Bank of Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959. The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are t ...

, the national banking regulator. , it holds more than $16.5bn in total assets, with shareholders' equity of $854 million. The company is listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. Irrespective of the current economic inflation in Nigeria, the bank had ₦727.03 billion payment before tax (PBT) in H1 2024. It won the "Bank of the year award" and the "Retail Bank of the year" at th
BAFI
awards in October 2024.

History

Competitive environment

The Nigerian banking industry of the early 1990s was led by a select group of four major banks: Union Bank, First Bank, UBA, and Afribank.

Foundation

In 1990, Jim Ovia founded Zenith Bank plc to compete with the existing four major banks. Zenith Bank was established in May 1990 and commenced banking operations in July of the same year. At inception, it had a capital base of $4 million. It began operations during a period of government

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

of the banking sector when the central bank granted up to twenty banking licenses a year to investors. The bank's first office was originally a residential house in Victoria Island that was modified into a banking hall. In its early years, the bank witnessed a period of rapid growth. In 1997, following a directive for banking institutions to shore up their capital base, Zenith increased its capitalization to 500 million naira.

Growth using technology

In 1999, Zenith Bank embraced the use of the internet for marketing financial services and to promote the use of

online banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, virtual banking, web banking or home banking, is a system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institut ...

by consumers and becoming one of the earliest companies to invest in online banking. In the early 2000s, Zenith's profile began to rise, its investments in information technology helped it compete against the major banks that had a larger branch outreach and it soon began to announce net profits comparable to some of the older big banks.

IPO

On 17 June 2004, following a successful IPO, the bank became a public limited company. On 21 October 2004 its shares of the stock were listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE). The bank's shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) following a listing of the $850 million worth of its shares at $6.80 each, in 2013. The bank has equity investments in Zenith Custodian, Zenith Securities, and Zenith General Insurance.

Branch network

, Zenith Bank had more than 500 branches and business offices in all

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and the Federal Capital Territory. It maintains subsidiaries in the United Kingdom,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, Ghana,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

and The

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. The Bank also has an office in China. In 2024, Adaora Umeoji became the CEO, succeeding the immediate CEO, Ebenezer Onyeagwu.

References

External links

Zenith Bank: The success story of Nigerian bankingWhat Nigerian Banks Pay Their Workers - 29 July 2015
{{coord, 06, 25, 51, N, 03, 26, 09, E, display=title Banks established in 1990 Banks of Nigeria Companies in the NSE-30 Index Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Multinational companies based in Lagos Nigerian companies established in 1990 Victoria Island, Lagos