Nigeria's largest bank, Access Holdings, is making efforts to meet the rules for starting dividend payments again. This comes after they stopped cash rewards to shareholders for the 2025 financial year, according to their chairman on Wednesday.
The bank could not declare a dividend for 2025, but it was not due to profit issues. They made a record net profit of N743 billion for the year. The chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, explained at the annual general meeting in Lagos that the halt was due to regulatory issues.
"I did not say inability to pay, I said to share," he told shareholders. He mentioned that Access Holdings earned over N5 trillion and had total assets of more than N50 trillion in 2025, both record figures for the group.
"Without a doubt, those results do not speak to an institution that cannot pay a dividend. Of course, we can pay a dividend," he added.
Regulatory Compliance Issues
Mr Aig-Imoukhuede further explained that the limits come from the regulatory requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and not from new banking rules.
"Since I joined the board of Access Holdings in 2024, there has been no new central bank regulation about dividends," he said.
Last June, the CBN ordered that banks still receiving regulatory support from the COVID-19 lockdowns could not pay dividends to shareholders. Access Bank, along with Zenith and First Bank, was among the major banks affected by this rule.
The CBN said the suspension would continue until these banks have completely exited the regulatory forbearance, and their capital adequacy and provisioning levels are independently checked to meet current standards.
Compliance Steps
Mr Aig-Imoukhuede noted that the CBN previously stated that restricting dividend payments would help banks reach 100 percent compliance.
He mentioned that Access Bank still has one compliance issue. This issue requires banks to limit investments in foreign banking subsidiaries to 10 percent of shareholders' funds.
"CBN says come into compliance with this requirement and take it very seriously. Until you comply, you cannot pay dividends," he said.
The chairman made it clear that the law does not stop Nigerian banks from starting foreign subsidiaries. The bank has not been told to sell off any of its foreign operations.
He pointed out that although Access Holdings' non-banking subsidiaries earn enough to support dividend payments, the CBN sees the holding company and its banking arm as one unit for dividends.
If Access Bank cannot pay a dividend, the CBN will extend this restriction to the holding company as well, he added.
He stated that the group is working with regulators in Nigeria and other countries to solve the compliance issue and hopes to resolve it within the year.
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