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By Uche Usim
Nigeria’s banking sector has demonstrated strong resilience in the face of intensifying fintech competition, with retail deposits rising to N39.01 trillion in the 2025 financial year.
The figure marks a 24 per cent increase from N31.46 trillion recorded in 2024, highlighting the continued dominance of traditional banks in mobilising customer funds despite the rapid expansion of digital financial platforms.
A Nairametrics analysis of audited financial statements and investor presentations shows that six major lenders, Access Holdings, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, and Wema Bank, all recorded growth in retail deposits during the period under review.
The findings reinforce a key trend in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, being that, while fintech firms are rapidly transforming how transactions are conducted, banks continue to hold a firm grip on where customers store their money.
Zenith Bank maintained its position as the leader in retail deposits, growing its base to N11.56 trillion from N10.56 trillion in 2024. Access Holdings recorded the most aggressive expansion, with deposits jumping by 77.1 per cent to N9.87 trillion, reflecting strong retail banking penetration and digital onboarding.
UBA followed with N9.77 trillion in retail deposits, up 15.1 per cent year-on-year, continuing a multi-year growth streak that has seen its retail base expand significantly since 2020. GTCO posted N5.92 trillion, representing a 13.1 per cent increase, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Wema Bank recorded N974 billion and N922.4 billion respectively, both posting double-digit growth.
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The steady rise across all institutions suggests that banks are successfully leveraging a combination of traditional strengths and digital innovation to retain customers. Salary accounts, physical branch networks, regulatory trust, and access to credit continue to anchor deposit flows within the banking system, even as customers increasingly rely on fintech apps for everyday transactions.
This growth comes against the backdrop of an aggressive push by fintech companies to capture market share in payments and digital banking. Leading platforms such as OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, Paga, and FairMoney have scaled rapidly, offering seamless transfers, mobile wallets, agency banking services, and app-based savings products.
These platforms now process billions of transactions and serve tens of millions of users nationwide, fundamentally reshaping how Nigerians move money. However, their dominance has largely been concentrated in transaction volumes rather than deposit mobilisation.
Industry analysts note that fintech firms act primarily as intermediaries for payments, while banks remain the ultimate custodians of funds. This structural distinction has allowed both sectors to grow simultaneously without directly eroding each other’s core base, at least for now.
Nevertheless, experts caution that the current balance may evolve as fintechs expand into more sophisticated financial services, including savings, investments, and full-scale digital banking.
As these platforms deepen customer relationships and build trust, they could begin to challenge banks more directly for deposits.
For now, however, the numbers tell a clear story that Nigeria’s banks are not only holding their ground but expanding it. Even as fintechs redefine convenience and speed in financial services, traditional lenders continue to dominate the more critical function of deposit mobilisation, reinforcing their central role in the country’s financial system.
