Nigerian banks experienced a challenging April, as all major banking stocks posted losses month-to-date.

This downturn coincided with the first month-to-date decline in the NGX All Share Index of the year, which lost 6% in April this year.

The most impacted were the FUGAZ banks—First Bank, UBA, GTCO, Access Bank, and Zenith—although Zenith was the only one to maintain its position in the SWOOT (Stocks Worth Over One Trillion Naira) index.

As of December 2023, Nigeria’s largest banks had a total net asset value of N9.7 trillion but only a combined market capitalization of N4.2 trillion ($ billion), translating to a price-to-book ratio of 0.43, or 43%.

This indicates that investors significantly undervalue banks compared to their book values.

Amid this, challenger banks like Opay and Kuda Bank are valued above $1 billion, despite their smaller operational scales.

FUGAZ value dips
According to the Nairametrics SWOOT Index, as of April, FBN Holdings, UBA, GTCO, and Access Bank each fell below the trillion naira market cap, a level they last exceeded in January when they briefly hit this milestone.