Fitch: Recapitalisation Eases Capital Strain Despite Rising Bad Loans
• Forecasts NPLs to drop to 5% by 2026 year-end
Nume Ekeghe
Fitch Ratings has reported that Nigeria’s banking sector has been able to absorb the capital strain triggered by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) withdrawal of regulatory forbearance, as lenders relied on stronger capital buffers built through the industry’s ongoing recapitalisation exercise despite a sharp rise in impaired loans.
In a report released yesterday, the global rating agency stated that the new paid-in capital requirements, which became effective at the end of the first quarter of 2026, enabled many banks to withstand the deterioration in asset quality that followed the central bank’s decision to withdraw longstanding regulatory forbearance at the end of the first half of 2025.
