DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

There are now 25 deposit money banks operating in Nigeria, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a notice posted earlier this year, the CBN said there were 10 commercial banks with international authorisation; nine with national authorisation and one with regional authorisation.
Others were one non interest commercial bank and four merchant banks with national authorisation.
The 10 with international authorisation include Access bank; Diamond bank; Fidelity bank; First bank; First City Monument bank; and Guaranty Trust bank.
Others were Skye bank; Union bank; United Bank for Africa and Zenith bank.
The nine with national license include Citibank; Ecobank Nigeria; Heritage bank; Keystone bank; Stanbic IBTC; Standard Chartered bank; Sterling bank; Unity bank and Wema bank.
Wema bank was originally licensed as a regional bank but upgraded to national not too long ago.
The lone regional bank was SunTrust bank which is relatively new on the scene.
Also relatively new was the lone non-interest commercial bank: Jaiz bank limited.
The four merchant banks with national authorisation were Coronation merchant bank; FBN merchant bank; FSDH merchant bank and Rand merchant bank.
The notice also listed three financial holding companies operating in Nigeria. These are FBN Holdings as the holding company with First bank as flagship; FCMB group also having First City Monument bank as its fulcrum and Stanbic IBTC holdings linked to bank and companies with the Stanbic brand name in Nigeria
All the 25 deposit money and merchant banks and three financial holding companies in Nigeria with the exception of only two, have their head office in Lagos state particularly in Lagos and Victoria Islands.
The two exceptions have their head office in Abuja. They are Unity bank and the lone non-interest bank, Jaiz.