Executive compensation at First HoldCo (formerly FBN Holdings) surged sharply in 2025, triggering scrutiny over the widening disconnect between top management rewards and shareholder returns during a year of steep profit declines.
According to the group’s audited 2025 financial statements, remuneration for First HoldCo’s highest-paid director more than doubled—rising 101 per cent to ₦195 million from ₦97 million. Meanwhile, net profit for the year collapsed by 79.4 per cent, dropping to ₦139.5 billion from ₦677 billion.
The figures are contained in First HoldCo’s audited 2025 financial statements.
The contrast is particularly striking because First HoldCo’s top-line performance did not deteriorate. Gross earnings actually increased 6.9 per cent to ₦3.44 trillion, while net interest income jumped 36.8 per cent to ₦1.92 trillion.
What eroded the bottom line was a sharp increase in costs, particularly impairment charges, which surged 93.8 per cent to ₦826.3 billion, while operating expenses rose 32.1 per cent to ₦1.23 trillion. Profit before tax consequently plunged 70.5 per cent to ₦235 billion.
Against that backdrop, the doubling of the highest-paid director’s remuneration presents a difficult question for shareholders; why did executive pay increase so dramatically in a year when the group’s profit available to shareholders fell by almost four-fifths?
First HoldCo’s broader compensation figures add to the concern.
Total directors’ emoluments increased to ₦992 million from ₦936 million, while executive compensation rose to ₦294 million from ₦159 million.
Key management compensation, covering executive directors and members of the management committee, almost doubled to ₦8.92 billion from ₦4.76 billion.
Salaries and other short-term employee benefits increased to ₦8.41 billion from ₦4.46 billion.
The earnings deterioration was also reflected in the group’s return metrics. Post-tax return on average equity fell to 4.6 per cent from 29.8 per cent, while return on average assets dropped to 0.5 per cent from 3.1 per cent.
The group’s non-performing loan ratio also increased to 12 per cent from 10.2 per cent.
For shareholders, the issue is not simply how much an individual executive earns, but whether the pace of compensation growth is sufficiently connected to sustainable improvements in profitability, efficiency, asset quality and shareholder returns.
The First HoldCo figures make that question particularly difficult to ignore.
The group increased the remuneration of its highest-paid director by 101 per cent in a year when profit fell 79.4 per cent.
However, the divergence between executive remuneration and bottom-line performance provides investors with a significant governance metric to scrutinise.
First HoldCo itself describes 2025 as a year of balance-sheet restructuring and says the business recorded strong core interest-income growth despite the large impairment charge.
The bigger question is whether shareholders should assess executive rewards primarily against revenue growth and strategic milestones or against the actual earnings and returns ultimately delivered to them.
With Nigerian banks having undergone a major recapitalisation exercise, the question has become even more important. Larger capital bases place greater expectations on management to generate sustainable returns rather than simply expand balance sheets.
For First HoldCo shareholders, the 2025 accounts present a particularly stark picture; ₦3.44 trillion in gross earnings, ₦139.5 billion in profit and ₦195 million paid to the highest-paid director.
Neither set of figures, on its own, establishes that the remuneration was inappropriate. But the numbers make executive compensation an increasingly important issue for investors assessing whether the benefits of Nigeria’s banking-sector growth are being distributed in line with the financial results delivered to shareholders.
