Fitch Affirms Access Bank at ‘B’ with Stable Outlook
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Access Bank Plc’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook. Fitch has also removed the National Long-Term Rating from Rating Watch Positive (RWP), affirmed it at ‘AA-(nga)’ and assigned a stable outlook.
The affirmation of the National Long-Term Rating – which captures creditworthiness relative to other domestic issuers – reflects Fitch’s view that Access Bank’s total capital adequacy ratio (CAR, on a standalone basis), profitability and foreign-currency (FC) liquidity remain weaker than those of higher-rated peers.
This is despite the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank Ltd in 2025, which benefits assessment of Access Bank’s operating environment and asset quality.
Access Bank’s Long-Term IDR is driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by its ‘b’ Viability Rating (VR). The VR captures the bank’s leading domestic franchise, reasonable financial profile metrics, high sovereign exposure relative to capital and material exposure to the Nigerian operating environment.
The VR is below the implied VR of ‘b+’ due to a capitalisation and leverage adjustment, reflecting high sovereign exposure relative to capital and a tight standalone CAR buffer.
Access Bank’s National Long-Term Rating balances the bank’s leading domestic franchise, strong geographical diversification, and improved asset quality against the tight CAR buffer and weaker profitability and FC liquidity relative to higher-rated peers.
The Nigerian naira has stabilised, the banking sector’s underlying profitability and FC liquidity have improved and capital raisings have boosted domestic banks’ capitalisation.
However, inflation remains high, regulatory intervention is burdensome, and the expiry of forbearance has increased impaired loans ratios and prudential provisions. The consolidation of Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank has improved our assessment of Access Bank’s operating environment.
Access Bank is Nigeria’s largest banking group, accounting for 14.4% of banking system assets at end-1H25. It has banking subsidiaries in 16 other sub-Saharan African countries, underpinning its franchise and geographical diversification.
Its investments in foreign subsidiaries exceed the regulatory limit of 10% of the bank’s standalone shareholders’ funds, preventing dividend payments. Access Bank plans to sell minority stakes in some subsidiaries to restore compliance with the limit in the near term.
Exposure to the Nigerian sovereign through fixed-income securities and cash reserves at the Central Bank of Nigeria is high relative to the Fitch Core Capital.
Single-obligor credit concentration is moderate. Oil and gas exposure accounted for 9% of gross loans in 2025, which is much lower than peers’.
The impaired loans ratio remained stable at 3% at the end of 2025. Stage 2 loans reduced materially to 4.5% at end-2025 (end-2024: 8.4%) due to migrations to Stage 3, which were written off following the expiration of forbearance.
Specific loan loss allowance coverage for impaired loans was 51% in 2025, which Fitch considers moderate, reflecting reliance on collateral. The acquisition of AfrAsia Bank has improved asset quality due to the large amount of investment-grade assets on the Mauritian bank’s balance sheet.
Operating returns on risk-weighted assets (RWAs) declined to 4.2% in 2025 from 5.6% in 2024 due to large impairment charges relating to the withdrawal of forbearance, and a material increase in RWAs resulting from AfrAsia Bank’s consolidation.
Access Bank’s profitability is weaker than most other large Nigerian banks’ due to higher funding costs and a larger share of low-yielding assets.
The Fitch Core Capital ratio decreased materially in 2025 to 16.8% from 21.1% in 2024, due to RWA inflation following the consolidation of AfrAsia Bank.
Access Bank’s standalone CAR settled at 17.4% in Q1 2026, excluding interim profits has a tight buffer over the 15% minimum requirement, particularly if it calls its USD500 million additional Tier 1 (AT1) notes.
This is because a redemption will reduce core capital as the notes are accounted for at a pre-devaluation exchange rate. Access Bank has raised tier 2 capital and plans to further strengthen its standalone CAR through internal capital generation.
Access Bank has higher funding costs than other Nigerian domestic systemically important banks due to a higher share of term deposits and expensive non-deposit funding.
Depositor concentration is low. Access Bank has large upcoming debt repayments, including the USD500 million AT1 instrument callable in October 2026 and a USD500 million senior unsecured Eurobond maturing in September 2026.
Fitch believes that the bank’s FC liquidity is sufficient to meet the upcoming repayments. #Fitch Affirms Access Bank at ‘B’ with Stable Outlook T+1 Settlement Cycle Takes Off June 1 – SEC
