Despite the fact that the Nigerian capital market closed the year on a positive note, the banking sector’s performance lagged behind since the value of five banks fell by 5.5% from N2.57 trillion in 2021 to N2.43 trillion at the conclusion of trading in 2022.
Data on the Nigerian Exchange Limited shows that by the end of 2022, the share prices of each of the five banks generally known as Tier-1 institutions were lower than what they were in 2021. According to NGX statistics, GTCO topped all companies with an 11.54 percent decline from N765 billion in 2021 to N676.9 billion in 2022. The bank’s share price was also reduced from N26 to N23 per share. The bank’s worth fell by 88.3 billion in the 2022 trading year.
Access Bank came in second place with a value depreciation of 7.5%. Its worth fell from N330.6 billion at the conclusion of trade in 2021 to N305.7 billion in 2022. The price of a share of the bank decreased as well, going from N9.3 to N8.5 kobo.
The United Bank for Africa also had a loss in the market value of N13.7 billion from N275 billion in 2021 to N261 billion in the subsequent year of trading. Additionally, the value of one share decreased from N8.05 to N7.6 kobo. Between 2021 and 2022, Zenith Bank Plc’s market value decreased by 1.6%, from N789 billion to N777 billion. The market share price of the bank decreased by N1.15 per share.
The market value of First Bank Nigeria decreased from N409 billion in 2021 to N407 billion in 2022, a decline of 0.44 percent. The bank’s share price also dropped to N10.9 kobo per share from N11.4 kobo per share.
Speaking on the decline, a capital market analyst, Wole Sam Adeyeye, attributed the performance to the absence of foreign investors who patronise banking stocks because of the high regulations of the sector.
He said, “The fall has to do with the foreign investors who have deserted Nigerian stocks. They don’t want to come to the country because of insecurity, the February elections, and forex issues.”
“If they are not ready to come, there may be no significant improvement in the banking stocks,” Adeyeye added.
