Many decades ago, First Bank captured most of the values in the Nigerian banking sector. Then, FBN served as a “central bank”, clearing cheques for other banks. That was before the Central Bank of Nigeria journeyed out of Lagos at scale. Then, Diamond Bank came with its technology, picking mammoth profitability along the line. GTBank took over with its ability to serve formal sector professionals, harvesting the best in the broad middle class. But in 2017-2018, GTBank suffered severe technology paralysis as its tech was just failing. It has since recovered but that opening moved many to Zenith. (You can also add the own-goals!). People, this is the age of Zenith. Today, Zenith Bank is the category king of the Nigerian banking sector.
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During the Soludo’s recapitalization era, those two banks never merged or cared to acquire any of the failing banks, they chose to maintain their respective philosophies and outlooks, and here they are today, capturing more than 45% of the entire value in that space.
Zenith has led the way in the last two years, so it remains a straight fight between Zenith Bank and GTbank, others have too much baggage, making it harder for them to compete, including the oversized Access Bank.
The boys have been separated from the men in that industry, it’s left for the wannabes to own their small corners they are occupying for now.