Race against time: 21 banks in last minute  merger, acquisition talks as CBN’S re-capitalization deadline looms

With barely two months left to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s March 31st, 2026 deadline for banks operating in the country to re-capitalize, the 24 financial institutions that are yet to meet the new capital thresholds have embarked on last minutes efforts to scale the hurdles, Business Hallmark findings have revealed.

Speaking at the last meeting of CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2025, it’s governor, Dr. Yemi Cardoso, said 16 banks had already met the new capital requirements.

Last week, the figure was revised upward by the apex bank’s Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi. According to Abdullahi, banks that have met the target are now 20.

BH gathered that two other banks were able to scale the hurdle immediately after Abdullahi’s update by securing regulatory approvals, pushing the number of successful banks to 23.

With Nigeria currently having 44 deposit-taking banks operating under various licence categories, the revelations by the top CBN officials indicated that 21 banks are still grappling with the re-capitalization exercise.

While the apex bank failed to mention the names of the banks that have met their targets, released audited financial statements, filings at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), and official media statements by banks showed that United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank, GTBank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, Wema Bank, Ecobank Nigeria and Stanbic IBTC Bank have all scaled the hurdles.

Other banks that have met the CBN’s hurdles are Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank, Citibank, Globus Bank, PremiumTrust Bank, Providus/Unity Banks, Rand Merchant Bank, Greenwich Merchant Bank, Nova Bank, FSDH Merchant Bank, Lotus Bank, Jaiz Bank and TAJBank.

Findings revealed that while some of the successful banks were able to meet the new re-capitalization requirements through private placements and public share offers, others took the merger and acquisition options.

BIG BANKS OPT FOR CAPITAL INJECTIONS

Most Nigerian Tier 1 and 2 banks, especially the too big to fail banks, First Bank, UBA, GTB, Access, and Zenith (FUGAZ) have completed the new capital raise through equity issuances and balance-sheet restructuring.

Leading the pack is Access Bank, which raised the sum of N351 billion through a rights issue involving 17.77 billion ordinary shares at N19.75 each.

With a paid-up capital of N602.8 billion, Access Bank has more than exceeded the CBN requirement by about N109 billion and will be keeping its prized international banking licence.

Like Access Bank, the remaining four FUGAZ banks, Zenith, UBA, First Bank and GTbank, will also be retaining their international banking licences after overshooting the apex bank’s requirements.

As of January 23, 2026, the four banks have raised their paid-up capitals to N614 billion, N502.6 billion, N533.5 billion and N504 billion respectively.

The only other top bank that has joined the league of banks with international banking licences is Fidelity Bank. At the end of its several equity placements, the bank successfully pushed its paid-up capital to N564.5 billion.

However, other banks like Citibank, Wema Bank, Eco Bank Nigeria, Globus Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, PremiumTrust Bank, StanbicIBTC, Sterling Bank and Providus-Unity Bank decided to go for national banking licences by raising their paid up capital to over N200 billion.

In the same vein, FSDH Merchant Bank, Greenwich Merchant Bank, Nova Bank, and Rand Merchant Bank have all capitalized to the tune of N200 billion to retain their national licences.

On the other hand, Jaiz and Lotus have successful pushed their paid-up capital above the N20 billion requirement to operate a national licence as non-interest banks.

UNITY/PROVIDUS BANKS’ MERGER TO THE RESCUE

Rather than going the ways of others, Unity Bank Plc and Providus Bank were the first banks to successfully embrace the merger route to be able to meet the CBN’s requirements as a national bank.

The merger received the  approval of the banks shareholders at a court-ordered Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in 2025.

Consequently, the enlarged bank, which will now be known as Providus-Unity Bank Limited, becomes the 9th largest bank in the country with a combined N5.3 trillion total assets and N3.2 trillion deposits.

OPTIONS NARROW FOR LAGGARDS AS WINDOWS DRAWS CLOSER

As the successful 23 banks savour the feat of beating CBN’s deadline and hammer, 21 banks are still grappling with how to secure the capital that will push them beyond the required threshold.

However, the banks options, BH findings revealed, had narrowed significantly after failing to secure the much needed funds through sanctioned Right Offers (ROs), Public Offers (POs) and Private Placements (PPs).

The banks only have about two months left to accomplish what they couldn’t achieve in almost two years.

Unlike their successful peers, the only windows now opened to the banks’ owners and managements to cross the CBN’s finish line are mergers, outright acquisitions, or through licence downgrade.

Union Bank

Among the banks still struggling to meet the capitalization deadline is Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN). However, experts argued that the future of UBN and other financial institutions under CBN control and management is assured.

According to them, no matter what happens, the bank will be saved from the hangman’s rope as it is currently owned and managed by  the Federal Government.

“Do you sincerely think government will allow a bank under its control and ownership to go down?” demanded a top Ministry of Finance official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Even if the government appointed  management fails to fully capitalize the bank by the end March 31st, the government, through the CBN, will surely do the needful by providing the required funds for it to stay in business.

“So, there should be no unsolicited cries for Union Bank. They should be reserved for other struggling banks,” the source advised.

The Federal Government had through the CBN taken over the bank from Titan Trust Bank and it’s purported owners, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara, over allegation of fraudulently fronting for a former central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, who allegedly acquired the bank using public funds.

With the future of Union Bank looking settled, the fate of other banks that have not met the apex bank’s requirement like First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Signature Bank, Taj Bank, SunTrust Bank, Parallex Bank, FBN Merchant Bank (EverQuest LLP), Coronation Merchant Bank, Alternative Bank, and other non-interest banks now hang in the balance.

Merger Option

Financial experts, who spoke on the development, meanwhile, said Nigerians should expect possible mergers and acquisitions before the expiration of the March 31 deadline.

Efforts to officially confirm the names of successful banks on the CBN list, or what will happen to defaulters proved abortive as officials contacted on the matter failed to respond to inquiries.

But a source familiar with happenings in the central bank said the bank will explore the most feasible options available to ensure a successful exercise.

“Some of the lenders without nationwide spread, but having strong presence in the zones may be allowed to downgrade from national to regional banks.

“I know of, at least, 10 banks that are considering licence downgrades, because of the heavy concentration of their operations in the regions.

“Also, the massive expansion and adoption of digital banking has reduced the need for nationwide branch networks”, the source explained.