By Edu Abade
Building on its long-standing presence in sub-Saharan Africa, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has alerted to plans for its next growth phase as financial systems across the continent open up to new opportunities.
Over a decade after an acquisition spree that boosted its footprint in sub-Saharan Africa, First Bank of Nigeria Limited is looking to expand into several other countries, including Ethiopia, Angola and Cameroun.
Speaking on the growth strategy on the sidelines of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) in December, Deputy Managing Director, Ini Ebong, said: “There are a number of large economies with large banking pools that are of interest to us because their financial markets are opening up.
“So, you look at countries like Ethiopia and Angola. In francophone West Africa, we want to expand our presence in places like Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. The market opportunity is there, and we seek to continue to exploit it.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, is poised to partially open its banking sector to foreign banks following a vote by lawmakers in December. The new banking law, which has been passed by a majority in parliament, allows foreign banks to open subsidiaries in Ethiopia. Foreign firms will only be allowed to own 49 percent of shares, according to the Ethiopian news magazine Addis Standard.
Speaking during a panel session at AFIS, Governor of Ethiopia’s Central Bank, Mamo Mihretu, said the country had been working on the legislation that would finally open the banking sector to foreign competition over the past one year.
After the ratification of the legislation by the parliament, the largest economy in East Africa is “open for business” for any banks looking to come into the country, Mihretu assured.
Ebong, who previously served as Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking before his appointment in June 2024, said that there are growing opportunities in markets across the continent with the expansion of financial systems similar to “what we saw in the early 2000s in some of the larger African markets.
“We believe it is an opportune time to take part in the phase of growth that we see,” Ebong said.
On First Bank’s ‘strong franchise,’ he maintained that the premier financial institution, which has been operating in Nigeria for 130 years, began establishing subsidiaries in other African markets in 2011, when it acquired Banque International de Credit, one of the leading banks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In November 2013, it snapped up the subsidiaries of International Commercial Bank Financial Group Holdings AG (ICBFGH) in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Guinea. It went ahead to purchase ICB Senegal the following year, completing its acquisition of West African assets and operations of ICBFGH.
FirstBank also has a subsidiary in the United Kingdom (UK) with branches in London and Paris, France, as well as a representative office in Beijing, China. Its parent company, FBN Holdings, saw its pre-tax profit for the first nine months of 2024 soar to N610.86bn ($395m) from N267.88bn in the corresponding period a year earlier.
In July 2024, Fitch Ratings said FirstBank, Nigeria’s third-largest lender, represented 10.7 percent of banking system assets as of the end of 2023.
“Its strong franchise supports a stable funding profile and low funding costs. Revenue diversification is significant, with non-interest income typically exceeding 40 percent of operating income,” it said.
