Nigeria's Biggest Banks Abroad: The CEOs Running N40.66 Trillion in Overseas Assets
By Aboki Forex —
Ten overseas operations of five Nigerian banking groups closed FY2025 with combined assets of about N40.66 trillion, as the country's lenders deepen their footprint in key African and global markets.
The subsidiaries belong to Access Bank, First HoldCo, Zenith Bank, UBA and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO). They operate in the United Kingdom, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Access Bank UK Tops the Asset Ranking
Access Bank's UK operation held the largest share of the total, with N16.69 trillion in total assets. First HoldCo's UK subsidiary followed at N4.41 trillion, while Zenith Bank UK reported N4.31 trillion.
The ranking is drawn from company-reported financial statements and other publicly available corporate disclosures. The comparison uses the financial year ended December 2025 and the corresponding FY2024 figures to show the change in asset size. The executive profiles are based on the leadership of each overseas subsidiary during the FY2025 financial period.
Who Leads the Overseas Subsidiaries
Loknath Mishra took over as Chief Executive Officer of UBA UK on February 2, 2026. He joined from ICICI Bank UK, where he was Managing Director and CEO with responsibility for the UK and Europe, and earlier served as Group Head of Wholesale Banking and Global Head of Transaction Banking. UBA UK held N880 billion in assets in FY2025, up from N730 billion in FY2024, a 21.25% increase.
Paul Croucher is Managing Director of GTCO's UK operations. He has nearly four decades of banking and finance experience and joined GTCO in 2024 after senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest Group and Fortis Banking Group. He was Executive Director and Head of Trade Finance and Credit Insurance at UK Export Finance, and before joining GTCO he was CEO of Reliance Bank, the Salvation Army's banking arm. GTCO UK reported N1.13 trillion in total assets in FY2025, against N1.12 trillion in FY2024, a 0.28% increase.
Bernard Gyebi became Managing Director and CEO of UBA Ghana on January 1, 2026, succeeding Uzoechina Molokwu. He has more than 27 years of experience in Ghana's banking industry, covering risk management, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. UBA Ghana's assets rose to N1.59 trillion in FY2025 from N1.04 trillion in FY2024, a 52.05% increase.
Olajide Motolani S. Ayeronwi has been Managing Director and CEO of FirstBank DRC SA since February 2022. He joined FirstBank of Nigeria in July 2012 and previously ran its Guinea subsidiary. FirstBank DRC recorded N2.61 trillion in total assets in FY2025, compared with N2.43 trillion in FY2024, a 7.33% increase.
Pearl Nkrumah is CEO of Access Bank Ghana.
Why The Overseas Units Matter
The five groups now hold tens of trillions of naira in assets outside Nigeria, spread across one of the world's largest financial markets and some of Africa's busiest commercial centres. For the parent companies, the subsidiaries provide trade, transaction and correspondent banking links between Africa and international markets, and a layer of earnings and assets denominated in foreign currency.