Globus Bank Limited has received a significant boost to its financial standing, earning credit rating upgrades from both Agusto & Co. and GCR Ratings. This development underscores the bank’s robust financial health, highlighted by improved capitalization, solid asset quality, and impressive profitability. Most notably, the institution maintains a record of zero impaired loans, alongside strong liquidity levels that signal a stable outlook for its future operations.
These dual upgrades follow a stellar performance in the financial year that ended on December 31, 2025. During that period, the bank experienced substantial expansion, with total assets and contingents climbing by 77.4% to reach N3.5 trillion. When looking at total assets alone, the bank recorded a growth of 63.8% to hit N2.6 trillion, a figure that further surged to N3.3 trillion by the end of April 2026. The rating agencies pointed to this consistent growth trajectory as clear evidence of the bank’s increasingly fortified balance sheet.
Elias Igbinakenzua, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Globus Bank, described these upgrades as a testament to the bank’s methodical approach to growth. He noted that the decision-making processes regarding capital acquisition, risk management, and deposit growth have been deliberate and disciplined. For Igbinakenzua, the bolstered capital base provides the necessary capacity to expand lending activities and navigate economic turbulence that might otherwise threaten less resilient institutions.
He emphasized that the bank’s achievement of having no impaired loans is not accidental, but the result of rigorous credit monitoring, stringent corporate governance, and a deeply ingrained risk-aware culture. He added that the confidence shown by customers is clearly visible in the bank’s deposit growth, and receiving affirmations from two distinct independent agencies within the same year only deepens their commitment to contributing positively to the Nigerian economy.
Breaking down the specifics of these ratings, Agusto & Co. elevated the bank to an A+ rating for the long term and A1 for the short term, up from its previous A rating, all while maintaining a stable outlook. Simultaneously, GCR Ratings improved its national scale assessment of the bank, raising the Long-Term Issuer rating to BBB+(NG) and the Short-Term Issuer rating to A2(NG), up from BBB(NG) and A3(NG) respectively.
The analytical feedback from these agencies highlighted that the upgrades were driven by the bank’s strengthened capital buffers, which received an injection of N108.9 billion during the review period. This move successfully pushed the capital adequacy ratio to 23.7% by the end of the 2025 financial year, comfortably surpassing the 10% threshold mandated by regulators. While the agencies did note a degree of concentration in the loan and deposit books, the overall picture remains one of a bank operating from a position of strength and strategic stability.
