People everywhere are looking for workplaces that don’t just pay salaries but actually invest in their staff, helping them learn, lead, and succeed.

That’s exactly what FirstBank is doing. The Bank is building a future where every employee has the opportunity to grow, lead, and thrive.

Through its human capital management and development agenda, FirstBank is creating numerous pathways for staff to transform their careers and become tomorrow’s leaders.

Conversion Programme: Turning Opportunities into Careers

Needless to say that there is no desire for the 9-5er to remain in a temporary role when they can secure a full-time career.

With FirstBank’s Conversion Programme, eligible non-core employees who have served for at least one year can transition into permanent positions.

This initiative ensures that hardworking staff are rewarded with stability, growth, and the chance to contribute more meaningfully to the Bank’s success.

Leadership Programmes: Grooming the Next Generation

FirstBank has designed three flagship programmes to identify and nurture high-potential talents:

• FirstBank Management Associate Programme (FMAP): A 24-month fast-track initiative that grooms future middle managers. Upon completion, participants are promoted to Assistant Manager grade, regardless of their previous grade.
• Leadership Acceleration Programme (LAP): Focused on preparing internal middle-management talents for leadership responsibilities, ensuring the Bank’s succession pipeline remains strong.
• Senior Management Development Programme (SMDP): A programme for senior managers who are proven leaders in their functions and critical to the Bank’s succession plan.

These programmes are not just training, they are career accelerators, designed to put staff on the fast lane to leadership.

FirstAcademy: Learning With Global Standards

Backing these initiatives is FirstAcademy, FirstBank’s corporate university, accredited by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

Staff also benefit from partnerships with institutions like Rome Business School and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), gaining access to world-class training, often at discounted rates

A Workplace That Values People

FirstBank’s parent company, First HoldCo PLC, was named second in the Best Workplaces in Financial Services in Nigeria.

The Bank remains firmly committed to responsible employment practices, ensuring that all colleagues are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.

The Future is Human

With these initiatives, FirstBank is showing that its greatest investment is its people. By empowering staff through various growth opportunities, the Bank is not just building a workforce, it is cultivating leaders who will shape the future of banking in Nigeria and beyond.

Speaking at the 2026 SPE Lagos Energy Week, Ukandu warned that despite the abundance of gas and power opportunities, projects will remain unbankable without disciplined revenue collection and structured offtake agreements.

Ukandu, whose firm is a subsidiary of First HoldCo Plc, noted that while technical and fiscal risks are significant, payment risk consistently emerges as the ultimate hurdle for lenders and investors.

The Three Pillars of Project Bankability

According to FirstCap, lenders evaluate three core risk areas when determining whether to fund a project.

Among these, payment reliability is currently the most problematic within the Nigerian energy value chain.

Incentives are not a Substitute for Fundamentals

Addressing the government’s push for fiscal incentives like tax holidays and accelerated depreciation, Ukandu offered a candid reality check: incentives cannot save a structurally weak project.

“Incentives make a good project better, but they do not make a weak project bankable. Cash-flow reliability and disciplined foreign exchange management must come first,” Ukandu asserted.

He further warned that Naira-based incentives risk losing their value if project revenues are not properly indexed to hedge against inflation and currency devaluation.

Strategies to Unlock Energy Financing

To move the needle on Nigeria’s energy deficit, Ukandu urged developers to prioritize Revenue Security at the source. He recommended several gold standard mechanisms to protect returns:

Escrow Structures: Utilizing payment-waterfalls to ensure lenders are paid before other stakeholders.

Currency Alignment: Ensuring credible industrial offtakers provide dollar-linked payments where possible.

Enforceable Take-or-Pay: Strengthening contracts to ensure revenue is guaranteed regardless of whether the offtaker utilizes the full capacity.

Techeconomy Analysis:

Nigeria’s power sector is currently haunted by a liquidity crisis, with the collection gap creating a massive debt overhang for GenCos and gas suppliers.

FirstCap’s emphasis on disciplined collections highlights a move away from relying on government bailouts toward market-based credit support.

For investors, the message is clear: the focus is shifting from how much gas we have to how surely the cash flows.

As stated in the unaudited Group financial statement, FirstHoldCo recorded a 4.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in its Gross earnings to N3.4 trillion, supported by a 36.3% y-o-y growth in net interest income of N1.9 trillion on the back of enhanced earnings yield and margins of 17.11% and 11.0%, respectively. Similarly, net fees and commissions improved by 18.7% y-o-y to N290.7 billion.

These are clear indications of the strength of the revenue generating capacity of the core business which continues to be solid.

Earnings for the year were; however, lower than the prior year, primarily due to higher impairment charges in the commercial banking segment.

This is in line with a deliberate strategic decision to accelerate balance sheet clean-up and adopt more aggressive provisioning standards. Management views this as a prudent step that enhances transparency, strengthens investor confidence, and aligns fully with evolving regulatory expectations.

Additionally, increased regulatory costs affected profitability. These charges, while weighing on the results, underscore the Group’s compliance with Nigeria’s financial system stability framework and its commitment to ensuring systemic confidence. Despite these pressures, underlying performance of the Group remains strong.

Deposit liabilities grew by 10.0% y-o-y, driven by sustained deposit mobilisation and continued investment in digital banking platforms. This growth reflects strong customer confidence and deepening engagement across key segments.

The deposit mix also showed a deliberate reduction in foreign currency deposits, resulting from the repayment of expensive funding and the impact of naira appreciation.

This shift supports improved funding efficiency and reduces foreign exchange risk.

Gross loans and advances declined marginally, reflecting a disciplined approach to credit growth, strengthened risk management, loan repayments, write-offs, and the translation impact of a stronger naira on foreign currency facilities.

The Group intensified its commitment to ensuring a high-quality, cleaner asset base, aiming to optimise the portfolio and enhance future earnings potential.

Furthermore, performance in earnings was impacted by a decline in non-interest income, mainly due to lower fair value gains on financial instruments following the naira appreciation in 2025.

However, this was partially offset by stronger foreign exchange (FX) trading income and reduced FX revaluation losses.

Net fees and commission income also grew, supported by higher electronic banking fees, letters of credit commissions, custodian fees, and account maintenance income, reflecting the continued success of the Group’s digital-innovation strategy.

While impairment charges increased following the end of regulatory forbearance, management has intensified recovery initiatives and reinforced credit oversight.

Excluding impairment and fair value gains, pre-provision operating profit grew by 23.9% y-o-y to N973.3 billion demonstrating robust performance of the core business.

Apart from the commercial banking impairments, performance across the rest of the Group remained resilient, supported by steady customer activity and disciplined execution.

Looking ahead, the Group will continue to prioritise disciplined execution of its strategic objectives, with emphasises on enhancing efficiency and profitability, continuing to build on the Group’s digital and data capabilities, while sustaining a robust balance sheet to support increased value creation and returns for shareholders.

Alongside this, the Group will pursue selective growth initiatives, including new revenue streams, additional business verticals, and deeper participation in targeted African markets, in line with our strategy and risk appetite.

Further details and insights are to be provided when the audited full-year results are published and during the subsequent investor and analyst earnings call.

This milestone was achieved following the completion of a series of strategic capital initiatives, including a Rights Issue, a Private Placement, and the injection of proceeds from the divestment of the Group’s merchant banking subsidiary.

This successful capitalisation underscores strong market confidence in FirstHoldCo Group’s business model, long-term strategy, and growth prospects.

With a fortified capital base, FirstBank is positioned to accelerate its support for the real sector, enhance financial inclusion, and deliver innovative, digitally driven customer experiences.

The recapitalisation strengthens the Group’s overall financial resilience, providing a robust platform for earnings growth through business expansion, technological innovation, and the pursuit of new opportunities.

In March 2024, the CBN directed commercial banks to raise their capital base to a minimum of ₦500 billion within a 24-month period to bolster the Nigerian banking sector’s stability and capacity.

FirstBank has now fulfilled this requirement well ahead of the regulatory deadline.

In a related development, FirstHoldCo have expressed its desire to raise fresh funding and inject additional capital into the Group’s existing subsidiaries and new business adjacencies in 2026.

This forward-looking commitment is aimed at further enhancing service offerings and facilitating strategic expansion.

Commenting on the achievement, Mr. Femi Otedola, chairman of First HoldCo Plc, said:

“On behalf of the Board, I extend our profound gratitude to our shareholders for their trust and unwavering support throughout this capitalisation programme. From the oversubscribed Rights Issue to the seamless Private Placement, investors have demonstrated resounding confidence in our strategic direction. Securing FirstBank’s capital base ahead of schedule is a testament to our collective commitment and positions us firmly for our next growth phase. We also appreciate the professional guidance of the CBN and SEC throughout this process.”

Mr. Wale Oyedeji, group managing director of First HoldCo Plc, added:

“This successful capital raise is a pivotal milestone for FirstHoldCo. It provides us with the financial strength to execute our core strategic priorities: driving innovation, delivering superior customer value, and enhancing sustainable profitability. With this solid foundation, we are focused on accelerating performance, improving competitive returns, and delivering lasting value to all our stakeholders.”