Banks Non Performing Loan rise by N576.5bn in two year-Report

Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in the banking industry increased by a whopping N576.5 billion in two years , Afrinvest West Africa, has said in its 2016 Review and 2017 Outlook report.

 

Commercial banks’ assets have depreciated in the last two years, with provisions for NPLs hitting N856.9 billion.

 

The report showed that provisions for NPLs rose 3.1 times from N280.4 billion in December 2014 to N856.9 billion last August, trimmed qualifying capital for mid to small-sized banks.

 

The report also said FBN Holdings, Diamond Bank, Heritage Bank, First City Monument Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria, Unity Bank of Nigeria and Skye Bank would either require fresh capital or aggressively capitalize their earnings to stay within prudential limits in the next one year.

 

The report noted that high concentration of forex-denominated loans has nominally increased risk weighted assets following pressure on foreign exchange rate.

 

The report titled: “The Nigerian Economy and Financial Market 2016 Review and 2017 Outlook: Reform or be Relegated”, attributed the rise in NPL to foreign exchange (forex) crisis, low oil prices, which fell below trend production volumes and tight monetary policy, which plunged the economy into recession while the asset quality of banks has sharply deteriorated.

 

These, the report said, were at the heart of a slow-burning solvency and liquidity crisis in the financial sector.

 

It said the NPL ratio increased from 2.9 percent in 2014 to 11.7 percent as of June 2016, with the forecast it could rise to 12.1 per cent as at December 2016. The pressured portfolios of the banks include upstream oil and gas, general commerce, manufacturing and power sectors, which account for 48.1 percent of total industry loan book.

 

The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) for banks that operate in Nigeria alone is 10 per cent and is 15 percent for lenders with offshore subsidiaries and 16 per cent for Systematically Important Banks (SIBs).

The report said, “In our estimation, seven banks- FBN Holdings, Diamond Bank of Nigeria Plc, Heritage Bank Limited, Unity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, Skye Bank Plc – would need to raise capital or aggressively capitalize earnings to stay within prudential limits in the next one year.”

 

According to the report, access to the capital market for debt and equity financing remains tight due to the weak macroeconomic backdrop and investor sentiment even as profitability going forward will also be pressured as banks would be required to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in reporting impairment charges from 2018.

 

It said the new accounting policy is much stiffer in that it forces early recognition of impairments. “We forecast NPL ratio to stay in double-digit in 2017 as the macro pressures persist whilst the delayed but certain adjustment of the currency in 2017 will further increase provisioning cost,” it said.

 

It said there were suggestions that regulators were considering another Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON)-type bailout to acquire stressed assets, “but we doubt the feasibility of this, given the stretched finances of the federal government, already encumbered balance sheet of the CBN and the public backlash another bailout will generate”.

 

The report said the impact of the above factors had put pressure on the CAR of banks across all Tiers with four lenders currently below or at the threshold of regulatory limit.

 

“To create a soft landing for banks and stabilise the financial system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently issued a regulatory guideline to allow a one-off write-off of already provisioned loans before the mandated one-year period. The CBN also took over a Tier-2 lender, Skye Bank, which fell four percentage points below the mandated CAR limit and below liquidity ratio guidelines.”

The report said Nigeria’s business cycle would be highly dependent on the ability of policy makers to deliver incremental oil output in 2017, restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding confidence in monetary policy and the administrative side of the forex market structure as well as showing commitments to structural reforms.

 

Afrinvest believes that activities in the Nigerian economy in 2017 will be broadly dependent on the Federal Government’s resolve to implement tough but necessary structural reforms in order to recalibrate the economy towards a path of recovery and rebuild confidence in monetary policy.