Wema Bank entered 2026 with more capital, a larger balance sheet and a difficult operating assignment: grow responsibly while the cost of money remained high.
By 30 June, the bank had converted that platform into N154.56 billion in profit before tax, 53.65% above the N100.59 billion reported in the first half of 2025.
Profit after tax rose 50.12% to N131.37 billion. Gross earnings increased 36.90% to N415.09 billion, while operating income climbed 39.27% to N267.07 billion.
The numbers are unaudited, but the direction is clear: income expanded faster than the costs required to generate it.
The context makes that performance more meaningful. Nigeria’s central bank held its monetary policy rate at 26.5% in July and kept the cash reserve requirement for deposit money banks at 45%. Inflation had eased to 15.91% in June, and real GDP grew 3.89% in the first quarter, creating a mix of improving macro stability, high asset yields, and still-expensive credit.
The most important result is not simply that Wema made more money.
It is that profits grew faster than both revenue and operating costs.
Total operating expenses, including personnel, depreciation, and other operating expenses, increased 23.40% year on year to N112.51 billion, well below the 39.27% growth in operating income.
That positive operating leverage lowered the cost-to-income ratio to an estimated 42.13% from 47.55% in H1 2025.
Pretax profit therefore expanded 16.75 percentage points faster than gross earnings.
The pretax margin on gross earnings rose to 37.23% from 33.18%.
High rates helped, but the bank did more than passively collect yield.
Interest income increased 42.69% to N342.64 billion, while interest expense rose to a slower 32.72% to N147.19 billion.
Net interest income consequently grew 51.26% to N195.45 billion.
Wema retained 57.04 kobo of net interest income for every naira of interest income, up from 53.81 kobo a year earlier.
This is the central tailwind in the result: a restrictive rate environment lifted asset yields, while the relative pace of funding-cost growth moderated.
The corresponding headwind is that the same rates strain borrowers and can increase future credit losses.
Wema’s first-half impairment charge of N831.11 million was small relative to the scale of its loan book. However, the sustainability test goes beyond a single reporting period.
