Nigeria’s Recapitalised Banks Position as Engines of $1 Trillion Economy at London Capital Forum – Time Nigeria Magazine

With 32 banks meeting new capital requirements and 72 per cent of funds raised domestically, Nigeria’s banking sector emerges from its most significant reform cycle as the primary engine of the country’s capital mobilisation agenda.

LONDON — When Nigeria’s banking recapitalisation exercise was announced, the debate centred largely on compliance: which banks would meet the threshold, and by when. At The Africa Capital Forum’s inaugural convening in London on Tuesday, the conversation had moved on entirely. The question was no longer whether Nigeria’s banks could recapitalise. It was what a recapitalised Nigerian banking sector could now do for a $1 trillion economy.
The answer, according to the chief executives who gathered at The Peninsula London alongside President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s UK state visit, is considerable.
Akin Ogunranti, Executive Director of Zenith Bank, set the tone early. “We need to give ourselves credit,” he told delegates. “The fact that over 72 per cent of the capital was raised locally is a major milestone.” That figure carries weight beyond optics. It signals that Nigerian capital markets are deepening, that domestic investors have confidence in the banking sector’s trajectory, and that the foundation for long-term growth is being built from within.

CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso was direct about what the sector has become. “We are very proud of what the Nigerian banks have been able to accomplish,” he said. “They play a dominant role on the African continent and in the United Kingdom. They are our ambassadors.” Thirty-two banks have now met the CBN’s new capital requirements, and Cardoso described the system that has emerged as categorically different from what preceded it. “The financial system we had is dead and buried. What we have now is a new…