UBA Tops N500bn Capital Mark Through Rights Issue

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has become the latest Nigerian lender to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new minimum capital requirement for banks with international authorisation, as its share capital surpasses N500 billion.

The milestone was reached following the conclusion of UBA’s N157.83 billion rights issue, announced on Wednesday.

According to UBA’s Interim Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements for the period ended 30 September 2025, filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the bank’s share capital of N20.52 billion combined with a share premium of N329.56 billion brought total equity to N350.08 billion. The proceeds from the rights issue lifted UBA comfortably above the regulatory minimum.

The CBN had earlier set the minimum capital base for commercial banks with international authorisation at N500 billion, while banks with national authorisation require N200 billion and regional banks N50 billion. Merchant banks are required to maintain N50 billion, and non-interest banks with national and regional authorisation must hold N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

UBA’s rights offer, which opened in July 2025 and closed in September, recorded a subscription rate of 113 per cent, according to Vetiva Advisory Services (Lead Issuing House) and joint issuing houses United Capital and CardinalStone. The bank offered 3,156,869,665 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N50 per share.

The rights issue raised N157.84 billion through the allotment of all offered shares. Initial applications totaled 4,134,747,690 shares worth N206.74 billion from 6,404 acceptances, but strategic adjustments and scale-downs by major shareholders brought the final allotment to full subscription. Of the applicants, 6,293 shareholders accepted their full allotments, while 106 opted for partial acceptance. A single large-scale application accounted for N123.85 billion, or 78.46 per cent of the total raised. Invalid applications during processing amounted to about N28.43 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the basis of allotment. Under the guidance of the issuing houses, PAC Registrars and Investor Services Limited will return surplus subscription funds to investors by Tuesday, 13 January 2026, while allotted shares will be credited to the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts of successful applicants by Friday, 16 January 2026.

The rights issue was structured on a ratio of one new share for every 13 existing shares held as of the qualification date of 16 July 2025.

Since the recapitalisation process began in April 2024, the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed that 16 banks have met the new minimum capital requirement, while 27 banks have tapped the market for additional funds as of November 2025. The apex bank outlined three options for banks to strengthen their capital base: injection of fresh equity through private placements, rights issues, or public offers; mergers and acquisitions; or upgrades/downgrades of licence authorisation.

The CBN clarified that only paid-up capital and share premium will count toward meeting the new requirement, with Additional Tier 1 Capital ineligible for this purpose.