Nume Ekeghe
Fitch Ratings has reaffirmed Stanbic IBTC Bank’s ‘AAA(nga)’ National Long-Term Rating, extending the bank’s uninterrupted run at the highest level of Nigeria’s national rating scale to more than a decade.
That span of decade included a naira devaluation, a sharp rise in interest rates and a central bank-mandated recapitalisation exercise for Nigerian banks, each a genuine test of any institution’s balance sheet and risk controls. Stanbic IBTC’s rating has not moved through any of it.
Fitch’s stable Outlook assessment pointed to Stanbic IBTC’s comfortable liquidity coverage in both local and foreign currency, a loans-to-deposits ratio that fell to 63 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 from 100 per cent in 2023 as deposit growth continued to outpace lending, and operating profit that reached a record 12.8 per cent of risk-weighted assets in the same quarter.
Its capital position also strengthened, with the Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio rising to 18.7 per cent following a N147 billion rights issue completed in 2025. Fitch also cited the strategic backing of parent company Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets, which holds a 68.46 per cent stake in Stanbic IBTC.
The effect, however, differs by audience, as clients get independent confirmation that their deposits sit with a well-managed institution. Investors get a data point that can support pricing on Stanbic IBTC’s debt and equity issuances.
Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Chuma Nwokocha, said: “A rating reflects whether an institution does what it says it will do, year after year. Holding the highest national rating from Fitch for over a decade tells us our approach to risk, governance, and how we run Stanbic IBTC has remained sound through very different economic cycles. It gives our clients and partners a clear, independent reference point as they choose who to bank with.”