The President/Chairman of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Prof Pius Olanrewaju, has identified mergers and acquisitions as a pathway for banks that may be struggling to meet the new capital thresholds set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Olanrewaju brought the option of M&As to the fore on Saturday while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Institute held at the Bankers House in Lagos.

Over a year ago, the CBN issued new capital thresholds for banks operating in the country and provided them with three routes to achieve it, including capital raise, M&As, and licence change. The banks also have until March 2026

He said that while some banks have already raised capital through rights issues, others may need to explore strategic partnerships or mergers to remain in business.

“The standard is set, and it’s not yet over. While I am not involved in the day-to-day running of banks. The one thing I know is that even where they cannot raise that money on their own, it gives room for mergers.

When you walk alone, you won’t be able to walk very far, but when you walk with others, you’ll be able to achieve better results.

“I believe that some of them have demonstrated the fact that they can raise the money. About three banks have already done that through a rights issue. I believe others can do the same thing, and where they cannot do the same thing, there are options. One of the options is that they can merge with others and continue to be in business,” Olanrewaju said.

He emphasised that financial stability is crucial for banks to support large-scale transactions and drive national economic growth, saying, “All that the government is trying to do, which we are in support of, is that when the banks are financially stable, they will be able to finance large transactions.

“When you look at our ecosystem and our economy, we have a lot of things that need money. Our roads need money. Our factories need money to survive. The technology that we are embracing, we need money to drive that.”

On youth empowerment, the CIBN president said, “The youth entrepreneurship has been very key to us. While it is a fact that we cannot prepare the future for the youth, we can prepare the youth for the future. Our Gen Z programme has been very laudable, and a lot of younger ones are embracing banking as a profession.”

For the 2024 financial year, CIBN generated a total revenue of N3.82bn compared to N2.78bn in 2023, indicating a 37.32 per cent rise.

The National Treasurer of the CIBN, Dr Peter Ashade, attributed the rise in generated revenue to the impact of the various laudable initiatives embarked upon, which were reflected in the performance of the various Directorates and Units during the year.”

CIBN’s internally generated Revenue rose by 41.22 per cent to N3.37bn from N2.38bn in 2023, indicating increased revenue diversification and adaptability to adapt to prevailing economic conditions. However, the inflationary environment pushed the operating expenses of the institute up by 23.99 per cent, and for net operating surplus, CIBN reported a 48.06 per cent increase to N1.99bn from N1.34bn.

“This significant growth, achieved amidst rising costs driven by inflation, underscores the effectiveness of our operational strategies and our ability to generate surplus despite the economic pressures,” Ashade said.

Commenting on the floor of the AGM, the immediate past president of the CIBN, Dr Ken Opara, urged members to make contributions towards the Human Capital Retention Fund.

“I want to appeal to the CEOs of banks to make contributions to this important fund. This fund was set up to take off the banking school, and we know that human capital development is critical. Looking at this figure, it shows that we still need a lot of contributions to be made,” he said.

As of December, the Human Capital Retention Fund stood at N298.46m compared to N292.87bn from the previous year.

Another former CIBN president, Mrs Debola Osibogun, in her comments urged the Olanrewaju-led institute to consider the issue of the banking museum and include it in its programmes.