- Access Bank Leads African Cross-Border Expansion as Foreign Subsidiaries Take Bigger Share of Earnings — Fitch
Foreign subsidiaries are becoming increasingly important to the earnings and balance sheets of Africa’s largest banking groups, with Access Bank recording the fastest cross-border expansion in recent years as lenders seek growth, diversification and new opportunities across the continent, according to Fitch Ratings.
The rating agency said contributions from foreign subsidiaries to both net income and total assets have increased over the past decade and accelerated after the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by acquisitions, regional expansion and, in the case of Nigerian groups, the depreciation of the naira.
Access Bank, rated ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook by Fitch, has been the fastest-growing cross-border banking group in recent years, reflecting an aggressive strategy to build a pan-African and international franchise beyond its Nigerian home market.
The trend is part of a broader transformation of African banking in which large financial groups are increasingly reducing their dependence on domestic markets and building regional platforms capable of serving customers across multiple jurisdictions.
Fitch said the strategy is being driven partly by the need to support clients whose businesses increasingly operate across borders, while banks are also seeking to capture opportunities arising from the African Continental Free Trade Area, stronger economic growth in selected markets and rising financial inclusion.
Major banking groups in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya have faced significant macroeconomic challenges over the past decade, including currency weakness, high inflation, slower growth and tighter financing conditions. Building operations across multiple economies can reduce dependence on a single domestic cycle and broaden the sources of both earnings and deposits.
For Access Bank, that strategy has become increasingly visible in its financial performance. The lender’s international operations have grown into a major component of the group. Access Bank’s 2024 annual report showed that its African and international subsidiaries recorded 117.4% year-on-year growth in total assets and contributed 42.5% of the banking group’s consolidated assets, while profit before tax from the combined subsidiary operations rose 142.1%.
Access Holdings disclosed that Rest of Africa and international operations accounted for a combined 52% of banking profit before tax in 2025, leaving Nigeria with 48%. The growing offshore contribution illustrates how significantly the group’s earnings mix has shifted away from reliance on its home market.
In the first quarter of 2026, Access Bank UK alone emerged as the group’s largest earnings contributor, generating profit after tax of N83.8 billion, up 73.5% from N48.3 billion a year earlier. That represented 38.7% of group earnings for the quarter, compared with a 24% contribution from the Nigerian operation.
Across 2025, Access Holdings’ foreign subsidiaries generated about N571.3 billion in pre-tax profit, representing more than half of adjusted group profit before tax, while Access Bank UK was the largest individual contributor with N288.5 billion.
That diversification has become strategically important as Nigerian lenders contend with domestic volatility and regulatory requirements.
Fitch has said Access Bank operates banking subsidiaries in 16 other sub-Saharan African countries, making international diversification a central element of its franchise. The group has also expanded into international financial centres as part of a strategy aimed at connecting African businesses to global trade and capital flows.
The expansion is not without regulatory constraints. Access Bank’s investments in foreign subsidiaries have exceeded the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulatory ceiling equivalent to 10% of the bank’s standalone shareholders’ funds, restricting dividend payments and prompting the lender to consider reducing stakes in some operations to restore compliance.
That tension highlights the challenge confronting African banking groups: cross-border diversification can strengthen earnings and reduce exposure to home-market shocks, but rapid expansion can also place additional demands on capital, governance, liquidity and regulatory oversight.
Fitch’s broader assessment suggests that the trend is unlikely to reverse. The agency expects new minimum paid-in capital requirements across several African markets to encourage further mergers and acquisitions, creating opportunities for stronger banking groups to acquire smaller institutions or expand into markets where weaker competitors may struggle to meet higher thresholds.
European banks’ retreat from parts of Africa has also created openings for African institutions, particularly in francophone West Africa, where regional groups have increasingly stepped into markets previously dominated by European lenders.
Kenya is simultaneously attracting new banking entrants from Nigeria and South Africa, illustrating how the direction of expansion is becoming more continental rather than simply concentrated within traditional regional blocs.
Moroccan banking groups have been an exception to the recent acceleration. Fitch said the contribution of foreign subsidiaries to Moroccan groups has declined in recent years, reflecting limited recent acquisition activity combined with strong growth in their domestic businesses.
Fitch’s analysis covers 14 African banking groups with subsidiaries in at least five African countries and consolidated total assets exceeding US$15 billion at the end of 2025. The agency rates 12 of those groups.
For the continent’s banking industry, the shift carries wider implications. As AfCFTA seeks to deepen intra-African trade, banks with established networks across multiple markets could be better positioned to provide trade finance, cross-border payments, treasury services and working capital to companies operating across national boundaries.
Regional banking groups may also become increasingly important intermediaries in moving African capital between African economies, reducing dependence on external financial institutions for transactions within the continent.
But the success of that model will depend on whether rapid expansion produces durable earnings rather than simply larger balance sheets.
Banks will need to manage differences in regulation, currency regimes, credit quality and political risk across multiple jurisdictions while ensuring that acquisitions do not weaken capital positions.
Access Bank’s rapid growth illustrates both sides of that equation.
Its foreign businesses are now materially reshaping the group’s earnings and reducing dependence on Nigeria, while the regulatory pressure surrounding investment in overseas subsidiaries demonstrates the capital-management challenges that can accompany aggressive expansion.
Fitch’s central conclusion is nevertheless clear: foreign subsidiaries are likely to account for a larger share of African banking groups’ earnings and assets over the medium term.
For Access Bank, which has moved faster than its peers across borders, that shift is already well advanced. The broader question is whether the rest of Africa’s largest banking groups can convert an increasingly continental footprint into resilient, diversified and sustainable profitability.
