Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), the parent company of Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank), has injected a new N365.85 billion into the lender’s share capital as part of its efforts to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) new capital requirements for banks with international authorization.
In a regulatory filing on Friday and signed by Company Secretary, Erhi Obebeduo, stated that the investment was executed through a rights issue involving the issuance of nearly 7 billion ordinary shares of GTBank to GTCO.
With the latest transaction, GTBank’s share capital from N138.186 billion to N504.037 billion, surpassing the CBN’s mandated minimum requirement of N500 billion for internationally licensed commercial banks in the country.
Obededuo stated: “Through this capital injection, the share capital of GTBank has been increased from N138.186 billion to N504.037 billion and ensures the bank’s compliance with the new minimum capital requirement for commercial banks with international authorisation stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
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With the latest equity by its parent company in its share capital, GTBank has now joined other tier-1 banks such as Access Bank and Zenith Bank in meeting the new capital threshold, reinforcing its position as a solid banking services provider in Nigeria and internationally.
According to the management of the bank, the additional equity will be deployed to expand GTBank’s branch network, grow its asset base, enhance its information technology infrastructure, and enable it to leverage emerging opportunities across Nigeria and other markets where it operates.
It further clarified: “The additional equity capital will be deployed by GTBank primarily for branch network expansion and asset growth (loans/advances and investment securities portfolio), fortification of its information technology infrastructure, and to leverage emerging opportunities in Nigeria and the operating environments where it maintains banking presence.”
The recapitalisation programme was approved at GTCO’s 2024 Annual General Meeting and executed in two phases with full regulatory clearance and following the allotment, GTCO has now retained its 100% ownership of GTBank.
It would be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave the recapitalisation directive to all DMBs and other financial institutions in the country in March 2024 to raise their capital bases by March 2026, following economic headwinds including the depreciating value of the Naira in the foreign exchange (FX) markets and persistent inflationary pressures in the economy.
As of July, the apex bank governor, Olayemi Cardoso, confirmed that at least eight banks had met the new requirements, as others continue to explore mergers and acquisitions options to remain in business by March 2026 and beyond.
