Zenith Bank says that the dividend is freezing as he runs to go out …

Zenith Bank says that the dividend blocks temporary while running to get out of the CBN tolerance list

Zenith Bank Plc has moved to reassure the shareholders of the fact that his payments of dividends are not in danger, despite being among the banks affected by the recent directive of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) which supports dividends, bonuses and new foreign investments for the financiers with unresolved regulatory awarded.

In a declaration dated 17 June 2025 and filed with the Nigerian exchange, the Level-1 lender confirmed that it has already passed the new capital requirement of N500 billion introduced by the Apex bank.

He also clarified that his tolerance status refers to a single obligation pursuant to the limit (Sol) of the individual obligation, which provides to regularize by 30 June 2025.

● What Zenith Bank is saying

The bank has also revealed that only two other customers are linked to the remaining credit exhibitions related to tolerance.

“As regards the tolerance granted on other credit lines, the bank confirms that this only applies to two customers.”

The bank has also said that a remarkable provision has already been carried out for these loans, with the full resolution scheduled before the end of the first half of 2025.

Once these steps are completed, Zenith says it will no longer return to any monitoring of CBN tolerance.

“We carried out substantial provisions in relation to these structures and have adopted appropriate and complete measures to guarantee full provisioning by 30 June 2025.

Upon completion, the bank will no longer be in contrast to tolerance in this regard.

The bank plans to leave all CBN tolerance agreements by the end of the first half of 2025. “

● What does this mean

This development follows the circular of 13 June of the CBN, which has actually frozen the dividends and other deductions of capitals for banks which are still operational based on the framework of regulatory desire introduced to the aftermath of Covid-19 and the economic dislocations that followed.

Since then the Apex bank has started to eliminate the framework as part of the efforts to strengthen prudential standards, strengthen capital buffers and reduce risks in the financial system.

While the directive has raised concerns about investors regarding the prospects of short -term profits for different banks, including level 1 players such as Zenith, Firstbank and Access Bank, Zenith says that its position remains strong and that it plans to satisfy all the regulatory conditions necessary to resume the payments of dividends this year.

“We are confident that the bank will satisfy all the relevant conditions to allow him to pay dividends to shareholders in the current year”, reads the declaration.

Zenith’s rapid response is probably aimed at calming the market nerves since investors revalue the impact of the CBN tight rules, which have already started weighing on banking actions through the NGX. [Nairametrics]

Related