Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) has announced a capital injection of N365.85 billion into its subsidiary company, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank), as a measure to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new capital requirements for banks with international authorization.
This is contained in in a regulatory filing on Friday and signed by Company Secretary Erhi Obebeduo, was executed through a rights issue involving the issuance of nearly 7 billion ordinary shares of GTBank to GTCO.
With this capital injection GTBank’s share capital has risen from N138.186 billion to N504.037 billion, surpassing the CBN’s mandated minimum of N500 billion for internationally licensed commercial banks.
“Through this capital injection, the share capital of GTBank has been increased from N138.186 billion to N504.037 billion and ensures the bank’s compliance with the new minimum capital requirement for commercial banks with international authorisation stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” the statement read.
GTBank is now a tier-1 bank alongside with Access Bank and Zenith Bank reinforcing its capacity to meet top scale lending and strategic expansion in the Nigeria’s banking landscape.
The CBN, in March 2024, had issued a directive to all banks increase their capital base to N500 billion by March 2026
As of July, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso confirmed that at least eight banks had met the new requirements, while others continue to explore mergers and acquisitions to remain competitive.
GTCO said that the additional equity will be deployed to expand GTBank’s branch network, grow its asset base, including loans and investment securities, and enhance its information technology infrastructure. The bank also aims to leverage emerging opportunities across Nigeria and other markets where it operates.
“The additional equity capital will be deployed by GTBank primarily for branch network expansion and asset growth (loans/advances and investment securities portfolio), fortification of its information technology infrastructure, and to leverage emerging opportunities in Nigeria and the operating environments where it maintains banking presence,” GTCO stated.