Wema Bank Plc strengthened its earnings performance in the first nine months of 2026, with profit after tax rising 72.6 percent to N219.84 billion, supported by higher interest income, increased treasury trading gains and a significant expansion in its loan portfolio.
The bank’s unaudited financial statements for the nine months ended September 2026 show that profit after tax increased from N127.40 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, while profit before tax grew 76.6 percent to N258.64 billion from N146.43 billion.
The performance reflects the benefits of its expanding balance sheet and stronger income from interest-earning assets, although rising funding costs and operating expenses indicate that sustaining earnings growth will depend on how effectively the bank manages its expanding operations.
Gross earnings increased to N673.24 billion from N462 billion, representing a 45.7 percent increase during the period.
Interest income, the bank’s largest income source, rose by 37.2 percent to N543.56 billion from N396.14 billion, driven by higher returns from loans and advances, cash balances and investment securities.
Income from loans and advances to banks and customers increased to N326.01 billion from N244.44 billion, while interest income from cash and cash equivalents surged to N91.28 billion from N8.04 billion.
However, interest expenses also increased by 35.6 percent to N217.68 billion from N160.53 billion, largely reflecting higher costs on customer deposits.
Consequently, net interest income increased by 38.3 percent to N325.88 billion from N235.61 billion, demonstrating that the bank was able to grow income from lending and investments faster than its funding costs.
Beyond traditional lending activities, Wema Bank recorded significant growth in income from financial market transactions, providing another important boost to its earnings.
Net trading income surged to N46.08 billion from N10.66 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, representing an increase of 332 percent.
Treasury bills accounted for the largest contribution, generating N40.47 billion compared with N8.29 billion a year earlier.
Income from fixed-income securities also increased to N3.24 billion from N516.23 million, while foreign exchange trading income rose to N2.37 billion from N1.86 billion.
The performance highlights the increasing contribution of treasury investments to the bank’s earnings, particularly as higher interest rates provide opportunities for financial institutions to generate returns from government securities.
Gains on financial assets measured at fair value through profit or loss also increased to N10.42 billion from N1.07 billion.
Meanwhile, net fee and commission income rose by 28.4 percent to N55.14 billion from N42.93 billion, supported by higher account maintenance and management fees.
Management fees increased to N15.42 billion from N9.82 billion, while account maintenance fees rose to N11.56 billion from N7.49 billion.
However, fees from electronic products declined sharply to N10.54 billion from N24.42 billion, a 56.8 percent contraction.
The decline suggests that growth in the bank’s overall earnings is not yet being matched by stronger income from its electronic banking channels, an area that remains important to its digital banking strategy.
Wema Bank’s balance sheet expansion was another defining feature of its nine-month performance, with total assets increasing by 46.4 percent to N7.43 trillion as of September 2026, from N5.07 trillion at the end of December 2025.
Loans and advances to customers increased by 44.5 percent to N2.51 trillion from N1.74 trillion, reflecting an expansion in the bank’s lending activities.
Gross loans reached N2.58 trillion, with term loans accounting for N2.30 trillion, while overdrafts stood at N253.50 billion.
Customer deposits increased by 17.4 percent to N3.86 trillion from N3.29 trillion, providing funding support for the expansion.
The growth in loans outpaced deposit growth, indicating that the bank is deploying a larger proportion of its balance sheet towards lending and other income-generating activities.
However, the expansion also makes credit quality an important consideration for future earnings.
The bank’s gross Stage 3 loans declined to N69.33 billion from N88.06 billion at the end of 2025, despite the significant growth in its loan portfolio.
This reduced the proportion of Stage 3 loans to approximately 2.7 percent of gross loans, compared with 4.9 percent at the end of December 2025.
Nevertheless, impairment charges on loans and advances increased to N17.03 billion from N12.40 billion, contributing to a 21.2 percent rise in total net impairment losses on financial assets to N18.54 billion.
The increase suggests that credit risk costs remain an important factor to monitor as the bank expands its lending activities.
Despite higher operating expenses, Wema Bank improved its operating efficiency during the period.
Total operating expenses, comprising personnel costs, depreciation and other operating expenses, increased by 27.7 percent to N178.38 billion from N139.73 billion.
Personnel expenses rose to N69.10 billion from N50.33 billion, while other operating expenses increased to N95.24 billion from N80.99 billion.
However, operating income grew faster, increasing by 52.7 percent to N437.02 billion from N286.16 billion.
This brought the bank’s cost-to-income ratio to approximately 40.8 percent, compared with 48.8 percent in the corresponding period of 2025, indicating improved operating leverage.
The stronger earnings also supported shareholders’ funds, with retained earnings increasing to N381.18 billion from N215.07 billion at the end of 2025.
Total shareholders’ equity rose to N790.13 billion from N620.47 billion.
The bank paid N50.15 billion in dividends during the period, compared with N21.43 billion in the whole of 2025.
However, earnings per share declined slightly to 730.63 kobo from 738.48 kobo in the corresponding period of 2025, despite the increase in profit, reflecting the impact of the bank’s expanded share base following its 2025 capital-raising activities.
The digital bank closed its last trading day on Friday at N32 per share on the Nigerian Stock Exchange,, recording a 3.2 percent gain over its previous closing price of N31. Wema began the year with a share price of N20.40 and has since gained 56.9 percent on that price valuation, ranking it 45th on the NGX in terms of year-to-date performance.