7 Nigerian banks lead Africa with largest customer base

Nigeria has become Africa's largest banking market by customer numbers, with its lenders outpacing rivals across the continent in retail reach. Data from banks' latest financial reports and the 2025 African Business Top 100 African Banks ranking shows that Nigerian institutions have built the continent's deepest retail customer base through digital expansion and aggressive financial inclusion drives.

Access Bank tops the list with roughly 60 million customers across Africa. United Bank for Africa (UBA) and digital platform OPay both follow with about 45 million customers each, BusinessDay reports. FirstBank serves approximately 43 million customers, while PalmPay has grown its user base to around 40 million. Zenith Bank reported about 36.7 million customers, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) rounds out the group with approximately 32.8 million.

Big customer base, small balance sheets

Despite commanding the continent's largest retail audiences, no Nigerian lender appears among Africa's top 10 banks when ranked by total assets. South African and North African institutions, including Standard Bank Group, FirstRand, National Bank of Egypt, Absa and Nedbank dominate that list.

The contrast is stark. South Africa's Standard Bank serves roughly 20 million customers yet controls assets worth more than $200 billion, a balance sheet that dwarfs those of Nigerian banks with far bigger customer bases. The World Bank reported that private sector credit in Nigeria stood at 12.9% of GDP in 2024, compared with a Sub-Saharan Africa average of 20.1%, underscoring the relative shallowness of the Nigerian financial system despite its size in customer terms.

Why Nigerian banks lag in assets

Economists point to several factors widening the gap: lower household wealth, weaker institutional savings, limited long-term deposits and the depreciation of the naira, which has reduced the dollar value of Nigerian banks' balance sheets even as they grow in local currency terms.

Analysts believe that ongoing bank recapitalisation efforts, deeper financial inclusion and rising household incomes could improve the standing of Nigerian lenders in asset-based rankings in the years ahead.

What this means for the naira and Nigerian businesses

The naira's depreciation is a key drag on how Nigerian banks look in global rankings. Even as lenders add millions of retail customers, the shrinking dollar value of their assets makes it harder to compete with South African and North African peers. For consumers and businesses, the message is clear: Nigeria's banking system is deep in numbers but shallow in credit. Until private sector lending grows and household wealth rises, the country's banks will keep winning on customers but losing on balance sheet size.