Onome Amuge
Investors in Access Holdings will have to wait until late October for the release of the bank’s half-year audited financial statements, after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) withheld approval amid sweeping regulatory curbs on the sector.
The lender, which is one of Nigeria’s largest financial groups by assets, said on Tuesday it had secured an extension from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) to publish its results for the six months to June 30 on or before October 22. The filing had initially been scheduled for September 29.
Access attributed the delay to the CBN’s mandatory sign-off on its financials, underscoring the increasingly intrusive role of the regulator as it seeks to shore up the balance sheets of Nigerian banks. The CBN in June ordered all deposit money banks to suspend dividend payments, defer bonuses for executives, and halt foreign expansion while it reviewed capital adequacy and provisioning under regulatory forbearance frameworks.
The measures reflect policymakers’ concern over lenders’ exposure to credit risks and breaches of Single Obligor Limits (SOL) in a banking system that has faced rising non-performing loans and foreign exchange pressures. The regulator has argued that temporary restrictions on capital outflows are essential to reinforce balance sheet resilience” and preserve liquidity buffers in the near term.
The impact is already visible in market performance. The NGX Banking Index, which had rallied earlier in the year on optimism over banking sector recapitalisation plans, has slipped into negative territory for the month, recording a 2.69 per cent decline as of September 22. Analysts say prolonged delays in earnings releases risk further dampening sentiment, with institutional investors likely to demand greater clarity on asset quality and provisioning levels.
Access Holdings, which has grown aggressively across Africa in recent years, reminded insiders in its latest notice that its securities remain under a trading blackout until 24 hours after its results are released. The bank did not comment on whether the CBN’s restrictions could alter its regional growth ambitions.
While the CBN insists its measures are temporary, investors remain cautious that protracted regulatory intervention could weigh on valuations and dividends in the sector well into 2026.
For now, Access Holdings and its peers remain in regulatory limbo, caught between the need to reassure investors through transparency and the central bank’s drive to enforce prudence through heightened oversight.
