Nume Ekeghe
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has challenged banks to channel the fresh capital raised during the industry’s recently concluded recapitalisation exercise into productive sectors of the economy.
Cardoso insists that stronger balance sheets must translate into increased financing for businesses that create jobs, boost productivity and generate foreign exchange.
Speaking at the Future of Banking Summit 2026 organised by CNBC Africa and ABN Group in Lagos, Cardoso said the successful completion of the recapitalisation exercise marked the beginning of a new phase for Nigeria’s banking industry, with the focus now shifting from raising capital to deploying it in support of economic growth.
He pointed out that the exercise, which ended on March 31, 2026, mobilised N4.65 trillion in fresh capital, enabling 33 banks to meet the minimum capital requirements applicable to their respective licences.
Cardoso who was represented by the Director of the Statistics Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Okpanachi Usman Moses, monitored by THISDAY virtually in his keynote address said, “Two years ago, when the Central Bank of Nigeria directed banks to strengthen their capital base, there was no shortage of scepticism, some of which, by the way, was not entirely misplaced.
“The thresholds were demanding, N500 billion for international banks, with proportionate requirements across the national and regional categories. There were warnings of disruption, a credit squeeze, and widespread distress.
“Nonetheless, the programme proceeded and concluded on 31 March 2026, having mobilised N4.65 trillion in fresh capital. Thirty-three institutions met the capital requirements applicable to their licences.
“Perhaps most significantly, about 73 per cent of that capital was raised domestically from Nigerian investors who chose to invest in Nigerian banks. The balance came from international markets, which, in our view, was a powerful vote of confidence in our financial system at a time when global markets had no shortage of destinations.
However, Cardoso cautioned against viewing the recapitalisation programme as an end, stressing that the objective had never been to create larger balance sheets but to strengthen banks’ capacity to support the real economy.
He added, “We should, however, be careful not to misinterpret that outcome. Recapitalisation was never an end in itself. We did not ask the industry to raise capital merely so that balance sheets would appear more impressive. We did so because a bank’s capital ultimately determines the level of risk it can responsibly absorb on behalf of the real economy, the scale of transactions it can underwrite, the shocks it can withstand, and the confidence with which it can finance investment and consumption.
“Given where we are today, the question is no longer whether the envisaged capital was raised. Rather, it is: what will we now do with the capital raised? A stronger banking system that lends timidly has missed the point. The capital that has been raised must find its way into the productive economy, into small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, infrastructure, and businesses that create jobs and earn foreign exchange.
“That is the deployment challenge. It belongs to us as much as it does to you.”
Beyond the recapitalisation exercise, Cardoso said the CBN was implementing the Payment System Vision (PSV) 2028, which seeks to modernise Nigeria’s payments ecosystem and position the country as a leading digital finance hub in Africa.
He said the strategy was built on six guiding principles: interoperability, security, inclusion, innovation, transparency and collaboration.
According to him, Nigeria already has one of the world’s most dynamic payments ecosystems and should now leverage that position to build globally competitive financial technology companies.
“Nigeria does not begin this journey from behind. Over the past two decades, our payments ecosystem has become one of the most dynamic in the world, driven by instant payments, fintech innovation, and the expansion of agent banking to approximately two million agents nationwide. In several respects, our performance compares favourably with that of many advanced markets. PSV 2028 builds upon these achievements. It is not a response to failure. It is the next phase of a success story that we must not take for granted.”
He added that the regulator’s ambition is for Nigeria to become not merely a user of financial technology but a global producer of fintech innovation.
“The aspiration now is that Nigeria moves from being a fintech adoption market to a fintech production economy, that the next global competitive fintech is built in Lagos, in Abuja, in Kaduna, on Nigerian data and Nigerian infrastructure, and exported to the world.”
Cardoso stressed that the success of both the recapitalisation programme and the Payment System Vision 2028 would ultimately depend on implementation.
“The success of the Payment System Vision 2028 will not be measured by the quality of the document; it will be measured by execution. Whether the previously unbanked farmer gains access to financial services, whether fraud declines, whether a Nigerian fintech grows into a globally competitive enterprise, whether the cost of cross-border payments falls.”