Zenith Bank Plc onboarded about 4.08 million new customers in 2023 as the group’s total number of customers hit 33.07 million by the end of the year.
The number of customers rose to 33.07 million from 28.99 million reported by the end of 2022, marking a 14% growth.
This information was disclosed in the group’s 2023 full-year report accessed by Nairametrics. During the year, Zenith Bank also issued 3.8 million new cards.
The number of cards issued by the group increased to 25.65 million, up from 21.83 million as of 2022.
The nationwide surge in electronic and mobile money transactions in 2023 was also evident in Zenith Bank’s active POS terminals which hit 414,192, representing a 78% surge from the 233,024 POS terminals as of 2022.
Zenith Bank’s customers growth
In four years, Zenith Bank has experienced a leap in its customer base, appreciating by 267%, up from nine million as of 2019 to 33 million as of FYE 2023.
The greatest leap was experienced in 2022, when the group’s total number of customers increased to 28 million, up from 18 million as of FYE 2021, marking a 56% growth.
Despite onboarding over four million customers in a single year, Zenith Bank established only one new branch in 2023, moving its number of branches from 446 to 447. In explaining the rationale behind this, Zenith Bank’s CEO, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, noted during the group’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos last week.
“We are not establishing more branches because we have noticed that much of our growth is on the digital side.”
Zenith Bank’s financial performance
In line with its growing customers profile, Zenith Bank’s financials have also experienced a leap. In FY 2023, the group’s gross earnings grew by 125% to N2.13 trillion, marking the highest gross earnings ever recorded a Nigerian bank in history.
The group’s net interest income also grew by 101% year-on-year to N736.2 billion, as the group posted its best-ever net income of N676.9 billion in 2023.
During the year, Zenith Bank’s growth was driven by interest income growth and trading gains due to the devaluation of the Naira.
Despite recording only 14% growth in customers, Zenith Bank posted a 69% year-on-year growth in its customer deposits which hit N15.17 trillion as of FYE 2023.
In 2023, Zenith Bank’s Return on Average Equity (RoAE) hit 36.6%, a significant improvement from the 16.8% RoAE posted in 2022.
While its Return on Average Assets (RoAA) also hit 4.1%, marking a 200 basis points increase from the 2.1% RoAA posted in 2022.
