Ten Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria earned a total of N1.57tn in net interest income last year, up from N1.49tn as of December 31, 2020.

They are Union Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity Bank Plc, Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, First City Monument Bank, Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank of Africa and Zenith Bank Plc.

An analysis of data from their audited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2021 showed that seven of the banks boosted their net interest income, their main source of revenue, while the rest witnessed a decline.

Net interest income is the difference between the revenue generated by a bank from the interest earned on assets such as loans to customers and the interest paid out on customers’ deposits.

Zenith Bank earned the largest net interest income of N320.8bn in 2021, up 30.12 per cent from N299bn recorded in 2020.

It was followed by UBA, whose net interest income rose to N320.8bn in 2021 from N259.46bn in the same period a year earlier.

Access Bank earned N301.4bn in net interest income in 2021, up by N38.47bn from N262.93bn in 2021.

On the other hand, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc’s net interest income fell to N220.61bn from N253.66bn, during the review period.

Meanwhile, the net interest of FCMB and Stanbic IBTC rose slightly to N90.91bn and N75.37bn in 2021 from N90.75bn and N74.21bn in 2020, respectively.

Sterling Bank also saw its net interest income rise to N65.78bn from N62.14bn, while that of Wema climbed to N39.87bn from N30.85bn.

According to their financial statements, Fidelity Bank and Union Bank are the other two banks that recorded a decline in their net interest income during the period under review.

The net interest income earned by Fidelity Bank dropped to N94.87bn from N104.12bn while that of Union Bank dipped by N12.94b from N57.40bn to N44.46bn.

“The banking industry is grappling with competitive rivalry within the industry as hungry players like Access Bank, Zenith Bank and GTBank are adopting ruthless strategies to expand market share domestically and across Africa, on the one hand, whilst simultaneously defending itself from cannibalistic competitor moves by the telcos and their surrogates – the fintechs,” the Financial Derivatives Company Limited said in a report released last year.

FDC analysts, led by Mr Bismarck Rewane, added that only the cost containment and digital efficiency would differentiate Nigerian banks in 2022 and 2023.