Investors in some of Nigeria’s largest listed banks are facing a growing information gap as delays in the completion of audits and clearance by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) delay the release of audited half-year results, limiting their ability to assess earnings, capital strength and potential dividends.
GTCO, Access Holdings, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Fidelity Bank have obtained extensions from Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) until September 30 to submit their audited financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Zenith Bank has an extended deadline of October 9, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings had earlier warned that the completion of the audit and regulatory approvals could affect its reporting schedule.
For shareholders and portfolio managers, the problem goes beyond the delay in publication. Without audited numbers, investors lack a common and current basis for comparing the profitability, asset quality, impairment charges, capital adequacy and book values ​​of leading banking stocks.
The uncertainty is particularly significant for investors positioning for the final quarter of the year, as delayed accounts could influence valuation models, earnings forecasts and decisions on whether to increase, maintain or reduce exposure to individual banks.
Interim dividends are another important consideration. Investors cannot adequately assess the sustainability of potential payouts without updated information on distributable earnings and capital positions. While reporting delays do not establish that dividends have been canceled or prohibited, they postpone information necessary to evaluate potential returns and dividend capacity.
Not all affected banks are in the same situation. The UBA said its board approved its first half accounts on August 13, but CBN approval was still pending. GTCO said its board of directors approved its accounts on July 28 and that regulatory authorization remains the pending step.
Fidelity Bank said its audit was still being finalized before submitting it to the CBN, while Access Holdings cited both audit completion and regulatory approval. Zenith Bank’s extension came after the board of directors approved its accounts on July 29.
The contrast with other banks has made the information gap more pronounced. FirstHoldCo, FCMB Group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Wema Bank published unaudited first half accounts in July under the shorter 30-day filing schedule.
FirstHoldCo reported profit after tax of N526.13 billion, FCMB Group recorded N139.9 billion, Ecobank Transnational reported N408.81 billion, while Wema Bank reported profit before tax of N154.56 billion.
The availability of these figures means that investors in those institutions have more recent financial information with which to evaluate performance, although the unaudited figures are not necessarily directly comparable to the audited accounts.
Market participants are also closely monitoring dividend decisions because past payouts only provide limited guidance. GTCO paid N1 per share and UBA declared 25 kobo per share as interim dividends for the 2025 half, but those payments do not guarantee similar distributions in 2026.
The CBN’s 2025 directive requiring certain banks operating under forbearance agreements to suspend dividends until specific capital and provisioning conditions are met has added another layer of regulatory uncertainty. Whether such a restriction applies to a particular bank in the current reporting period requires specific confirmation from the bank.
The delayed disclosures also come as some of the affected institutions attract greater attention from international investors. GTCO, Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC are among the Nigerian securities scheduled to enter the FTSE Frontier index series from September 21.
Investors are therefore not only watching whether banks meet the revised deadlines, but also what the audited figures reveal once they are published.
The dates of September 30 and October 9 have indeed become important market catalysts. Higher-than-expected earnings, changes in asset quality or capital ratios and dividend announcements could trigger a significant reassessment of valuations, while further delays could prolong uncertainty and weaken investors’ ability to price stocks based on current fundamentals.
For investors, the key question is no longer simply when the accounts will be presented. It is how quickly missing information can restore meaningful price discovery across the banking sector.
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