10 Best Traditional Banks in Nigeria

12 Sep 2025

Traditional banks (commercial banks, merchant banks, universal banks) remain the backbone of Nigeria’s financial system. They are regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), hold full banking licenses, maintain physical branches, offer savings & current accounts, credit/loan facilities, corporate banking, foreign exchange, trade finance, and more. Despite the rising popularity of digital and neobanks, traditional banks continue to dominate in terms of total assets, customer deposit base, credit provision, foreign operations, and infrastructure. Their strengths include broad geographic reach (branches, ATMs), large customer bases, ability to offer large scale corporate and trade banking services, diversified products (retail, SME, corporate, investment banking), and often greater resilience in terms of capital buffers. On the flip side, they tend to have higher costs, perhaps slower digital innovation, higher fees/charges in some cases, and more bureaucracy. In Nigeria today, the ranking of banks is often based on metrics like total assets, market capitalization, customer base, branch/agency network, and profitability. As of Q1 2025, banks such as Access Bank, Ecobank Nigeria, Zenith Bank, UBA, GTCO (GTBank), First Bank, Fidelity, Stanbic IBTC, FCMB, and Wema are the top players by assets. These banks are critical in driving economic activity—facilitating trade, agriculture, infrastructure, remittances, and providing banking services for individuals and businesses nationwide. For reliability, regulation (CBN oversight), and access (both physical and digital), traditional banks are still widely trusted and used in Nigeria.