Nigeria has emerged as Africa’s leader in banking customer numbers, yet its financial institutions continue to trail their counterparts in South Africa, Egypt and Morocco when measured by total assets, highlighting a widening gap between financial inclusion and financial strength.
While Nigerian banks and fintech firms have successfully attracted tens of millions of customers through digital banking and mobile payments, the country’s lenders remain absent from the continent’s top 10 largest banks by asset value.
Nigeria Dominates Customer Numbers
Among African financial institutions, Access Bank boasts the largest customer base, serving about 60 million customers.
Other Nigerian institutions also rank highly in customer reach:
Access Bank – 60 million customers
UBA – 45 million
OPay – 45 million users
FirstBank – 43 million
PalmPay – 40 million users
Zenith Bank – 36.7 million
GTCO – 32.8 million
The figures reflect Nigeria’s success in expanding financial inclusion across Africa’s most populous nation through traditional banking and digital financial services.
Asset Rankings Tell a Different Story
Despite their extensive customer base, Nigerian banks still lag behind Africa’s financial heavyweights in terms of total assets.
According to the 2025 African Business Top 100 African Banks ranking, the continent’s largest banks remain concentrated in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria.
South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, FirstRand, Absa and Nedbank, alongside the National Bank of Egypt, continue to dominate the rankings, while no Nigerian bank appears among Africa’s top 10 by assets.
The contrast illustrates a key distinction in banking: attracting customers does not automatically translate into greater financial capacity.
Financial Reach vs Financial Depth
Banking experts note that while customer numbers demonstrate market penetration, balance-sheet size reflects a bank’s ability to finance economic growth through lending, infrastructure investment and corporate financing.
For example, Standard Bank serves roughly 20 million customers but manages assets exceeding $200 billion. By comparison, Access Bank serves approximately 60 million customers but operates with a significantly smaller balance sheet.
The difference highlights stronger capital accumulation and institutional savings in countries such as South Africa.
Why Nigerian Banks Lag Behind
Analysts attribute the gap to several structural factors.
Nigeria’s financial system remains relatively shallow despite its large population. According to the World Bank’s Nigeria Country Private Sector Diagnostic, domestic credit to the private sector stood at just 12.9 percent of GDP in 2024, compared with 20.1 percent across Sub-Saharan Africa and 34 percent for lower-middle-income economies globally.
The report also noted that Nigerian banks rely heavily on short-term deposits, limiting their ability to provide long-term financing for sectors such as manufacturing, housing and infrastructure.
Although millions of Nigerians now own bank accounts or digital wallets, many primarily use them for salary payments, transfers and everyday transactions rather than long-term savings or wealth accumulation.
Fintech Growth Doesn’t Equal Financial Strength
The rapid expansion of fintech companies has further boosted financial inclusion.
PalmPay, for example, reports about 40 million users, while OPay has around 45 million users, demonstrating how digital platforms have accelerated access to financial services.
However, analysts caution that user numbers alone do not reflect financial strength. Unlike traditional commercial banks, fintech platforms operate under different business models and reporting standards.
Building a large customer base is only one part of banking. Institutions must also maintain stable deposits, adequate capital, strong loan portfolios and effective risk management to support sustainable growth.
Exchange Rate Pressure
Another factor affecting Nigerian banks’ continental ranking is the depreciation of the naira.
Although major lenders continue to report growing deposits in local currency, their balance sheets appear significantly smaller when converted into U.S. dollars for international comparisons.
Access Holdings reported customer deposits of ₦22.52 trillion in 2024, while Zenith Bank recorded ₦21.96 trillion. However, the weakening naira has reduced the dollar value of these assets, limiting their position in Africa-wide rankings.
Experts See Growth Potential
Chief Economist at United Capital Plc, Ayodele Akinwunmi, said customer numbers and asset size represent different measures of banking performance.
According to him, Nigeria’s population of more than 240 million naturally gives banks access to a vast retail market, but lower household income and wealth compared with countries like South Africa limit average deposits per customer.
He also pointed to exchange-rate depreciation, stronger institutional savings, and more developed capital markets in South Africa as factors that have enabled its banks to build much larger balance sheets.
Despite the current gap, Akinwunmi expressed optimism that Nigeria’s ongoing banking recapitalisation programme, growing digital banking adoption, expanding financial inclusion and sustained economic growth could strengthen banks’ balance sheets over time.
He noted that if customer wealth increases alongside the expanding customer base, Nigerian banks are likely to improve their rankings not only by the number of customers they serve but also by the size of the assets they manage.
For now, Nigeria remains Africa’s undisputed leader in banking reach, while South Africa continues to dominate in banking depth and financial capacity.
