Jim Ovia’s Zenith Bank Records $143 million Profit in Q1 2023

A Lagos-based financial services group, Zenith Bank, recorded an impressive performance in the first quarter of 2023. This comes after it reported a single-digit per cent decline in earnings at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.

This was contained in the group’s recently published financial statement for Q1 2023. According to the statement, Zenith Bank’s profits surged by 13.4 per cent from $126.4 million in the same period last year to $143.3 million. The impressive increase can be attributed to a significant increase in net interest income, which rose from $218.3 million to $262.3 million.

Led by Nigerian banking mogul Jim Ovia, Zenith Bank is a distinguished financial services provider in Nigeria and anglophone West Africa, operating as a licensed commercial bank under the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Zenith Bank’s growth in the first quarter of 2023

In Zenith Bank’s latest earnings report, the group’s impressive financial performance was reflected in the growth of its total assets from $22.31 billion to $29.03 billion. Its retained earnings also expanded from $1.42 billion to $1.48 billion.

According to reports, a substantial increase in loans and advances drove the bank’s growth from $7.69 billion to $8.73 billion. Also, customer deposits increased significantly from $15.72 billion to $19.8 billion, and the group’s cash and balances with central banks also surged from $4.16 billion to $5.46 billion.

The success of the bank is closely linked to the visionary leadership of its founder, Ovia, who has played an instrumental role in the evolution and digital transformation of Nigerian banking. As a major shareholder, Ovia holds a substantial 16.2-per cent stake, which translates to 5,072,104,311 ordinary shares.