Access Holdings, the group in charge of Access Bank, has announced plans to source for capital of up to $ 1.8 million. The apex bank in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria, released a circular is a capital base for banks to have before proceedung with operations in the nation.
For all large banks, CBN increased the capital base to N500 million, meaning that banks will have to raise the required amounts needed to meet the baseline; otherwise, they will risk losing their authorization to operate, especially tier two banks such as Stanbic IBTC and Sterling Bank.
| BANKÂ | TIER | SHARE CAPITAL PREMIUM | CBN TARGET | AMOUNT TO RAISE |
| Access Bank | Tier 1 | 251,812 | 500,000 | 248,188 |
| EcoBank | Tier 1 | 353,513 | 500,000 | 146,487 |
| FBNH | Tier 1 | 251,340 | 500,000 | 248,660 |
| FCMB | Tier 2 | 125,294 | 500,000 | 374,706 |
| Fidelity | Tier 2 | 115,305 | 500,000 | 384,695 |
| GTB | Tier 1 | 138,187 | 500,000 | 361,813 |
| Stanbic IBTC | Tier 2 | 109,259 | 500,000 | 90,741 |
| Sterling | Tier 2 | 57,154 | 500,000 | 142,846 |
| UBA | Tier 1 | 115,815 | 500,000 | 384,185 |
| Zenith Bank | Tier 1 | 270,745 | 500,000 | 229,255 |
| Grand Total | 1,788,424 | 4,400,000 | 2,611,577 |
Banks like Access, UBA, and First Bank will risk being demoted to tier-two banks if they cannot meet the capital base.
Access Holdings proposes to raise $1.8 billion via bonds and stock sales and also $287 million from their shareholders. The CBN’s new policy for capital bases is to come into effect in March 2026, giving banks the necessary timeframe to raise capital.
Access Bank, standing as the 3rd most capitalized bank in the nation, needs $187.7 billion since its baseline sits at $190.6 billion. As a part of the strategies to raise funds, the Holding company held a general meeting on Thursday where they delivered on increasing the number of shares it issued to the public from N17.6 billion to N26.6 billion.
A fundamental reason why the company is seeking recapitalization stems from its recent acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya from KCB in a deal worth up to N100 million.
This means that the bank is a bit stretched financially. KCB’s CEO, Paul Russo, stated that the bank would have an influx of capital of up to $61 million to keep the bank afloat. Hence, the bank needs an expanded capital base.
Finally, this is part of Access Holding’s projection for the year, as they plan to become the biggest bank in all of the African continen
