Lending at Full Stretch
Wema's earnings growth starts with balance sheet expansion. Loans grew 44.5% this year to ₦2.51 trillion while deposits rose 17.4% to ₦3.86 trillion, lifting the loan to deposit ratio to about 65% from 53% on MoneyCentral's calculations. That is close to the regulatory ceiling, which means the pace of lending growth that produced this result cannot repeat next year without deposit growth catching up. Interest income from cash and cash equivalents, up to ₦91.28 billion from ₦8.04 billion, shows treasury assets working harder alongside the loan book.
Funding costs rose with the expansion, with interest expenses up 35.6% to ₦217.68 billion, yet net interest income still grew faster, up 38.3% to ₦325.88 billion. Asset quality held up on the reported numbers: Stage 3 loans fell to ₦69.33 billion from ₦88.06 billion at the end of 2025, roughly 2.7% of gross loans against 4.9% then.
Treasury Income Did the Extra Work
The step change in profit came from markets rather than lending alone. Net trading income more than quadrupled to ₦46.08 billion, with Treasury bills contributing ₦40.47 billion against ₦8.29 billion a year earlier, and foreign exchange income swung to a gain from a loss in the prior period. Net fee and commission income rose 28.4% to ₦55.14 billion on account maintenance and management fees.
One channel moved the other way. Fees from electronic products fell 56.8% to ₦10.54 billion, an awkward result for a bank whose brand is built on digital banking, and it leaves the income mix more dependent on treasury gains that vary with yields. Meristem Securities, in an earnings flash cited by MoneyCentral, put asset yields at 8.88%, down 405 basis points, while cost of funds fell only 38 basis points to 5.44%, a squeeze that will sharpen if the Monetary Policy Committee cuts rates at its November 23 to 24 meeting.
Growth Is Arriving With Credit Costs Attached
Shareholders' funds rose to ₦790.13 billion and the bank paid ₦50.15 billion in dividends during the period, more than double the ₦21.43 billion paid in the whole of 2025. Per share economics lagged the headline, however: earnings per share of ₦7.31, against 738.48 kobo a year earlier, reflect a weighted average share count of 40.12 billion after the recapitalisation rights issue of 14.29 billion shares at ₦10.45.
The forward question is credit cost. Total net impairment losses rose 21.2% to ₦18.54 billion, and MoneyCentral calculates that ₦13.50 billion of impairments landed in the third quarter alone, about 73% of the nine month total, as the fast grown loan book seasons. A loan book expanding at 44.5% against deposits at 17.4% has delivered the best nine month profit in the bank's history; whether it keeps that title depends on how much of the new lending has to be provided against in the final quarter.
