Founder and chairman of Zenith Bank Plc Jim Ovia and the bank’s group managing director/chief executive officer, Adaora Umeoji, on Tuesday, performed the closing gong ceremony at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in Lagos.
The event marked the official end of the trading day and reinforced the bank’s ongoing collaboration with the capital market.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs Umeoji acknowledged the NGX leadership for its initiatives and commended its electronic trading platform, X-stream, which she said contributed to the bank’s successful recapitalisation.
She said, “The NGX’s leadership has been very creative and innovative, and their electronic trading platform – X-stream – played a pivotal role in the success of our recapitalization exercise, which achieved a 160% subscription.
“The bank’s stock price has doubled since the recapitalization exercise, from N36.50 per share to N68. Zenith Bank has also reported financial results for the Half Year (H1) of 2025, becoming the most profitable bank in Nigeria and paying the highest dividend in the industry for the half year.”
Umeoji said Zenith Bank remained committed to creating value for stakeholders and supporting economic growth through its partnership with the NGX.
She added that the bank’s expansion plan aimed to follow customers’ businesses into new markets and generate higher returns for shareholders.
She said, “We are looking forward to paying more based on the confidence the market reposed in us. We are working to ensure that we do not disappoint the market. We will continue to be the investors’ delight and assure the market that we will continue to pay enhanced dividends by the end of the year.”
The director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama, commended the NGX for its role in growing the capital market.
He said the market’s capitalisation had increased from N55 trillion at his assumption of office to between N89 trillion and N93 trillion, noting that the growth was driven by the efforts of market participants.
“Our vision is that by next year, we will have the market at N200 trillion,” Agama said.
The Doyen of the NGX, Rasheed Yusuf, also spoke at the event, commending Ovia for his leadership in the banking sector.
Zenith Bank said it would continue to create long-term value for stakeholders and pursue its global expansion strategy.
The bank plans to use funds raised from the market to strengthen its operations and improve service delivery.
The bank has received multiple recognitions over the years, including being named the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital for the sixteenth consecutive year in the 2025 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking by The Banker.
It was also named Nigeria’s Best Bank at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025, Bank of the Year (Nigeria) by The Banker in 2020, 2022, and 2024 and Best Bank in Nigeria in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards from 2020 to 2022, 2024 and 2025.
Other honours include Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria for five consecutive years from 2021 to 2025 by the World Finance Banking Awards and Most Sustainable Bank, Nigeria by the International Banker in 2023 and 2024.
The bank was also named Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria by the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards from 2022 to 2025 and Best in Corporate Governance (Financial Services) Africa by the Ethical Boardroom from 2020 to 2023.
Zenith Bank has also won Bank of the Year at the BusinessDay BAFI Awards from 2023 to 2025, Retail Bank of the Year from 2020 to 2022 and 2024 to 2025 and Most Responsible Organisation in Africa at the SERAS CSR Awards Africa 2024.
Its Hybrid Offer was recognised as the Rights Issue/Public Offer of the Year at the Nairametrics Capital Market Choice Awards 2025.
