With most listed banks expected to publish full-year 2022 earnings over the coming weeks, we look at the major themes that shaped banks' financial performance during 2022 and delineate our expectations for FY 2022 results before presenting our views on the banking industry for the year 2023. Note two banks, Stanbic IBTC and Zenith Bank, have already reported FY 2022 results.

The year 2022 saw the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) take a hawkish monetary stance, hiking the benchmark policy rate as well as the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR). This, together with a rise in government borrowing, drove lending yields up and consequently banks’ net interest margins (NIM). We expect modest FY 2022E performance upside for most of the banks featured here, driven by improved asset yields, although capped by ongoing CRR debits. We expect earnings support from strong growth in Non-Interest Revenue (NIR).