Sterling

Sterling Financial Holdings closed its FY2025 books with what it has called the strongest performance in the Group's modern history: gross earnings rose 44.4% to ₦486.8 billion, profit before tax rose 52.8% to ₦27.9 billion and profit after tax reached ₦23.4 billion, and by early 2026 total assets had crossed ₦4 trillion, with profit up 89% year-on-year. That capital position was rebuilt through a $50 million tier-two capital augmentation and a rights issue that was oversubscribed by nearly 50%, giving Sterling a head start on the CBN's new capital requirements relative to peers still catching up; management has projected return on equity climbing from the mid-to-high teens into the low-to-mid twenties, crediting a newly commissioned core banking platform with cutting FX-related costs.

Sterling's HoldCo structure, adopted in 2022, separates the Group's operations into three distinct businesses: Sterling Bank Ltd for conventional commercial banking, The Alternative Bank, Nigeria's first standalone non-interest bank, and SterlingFi for wealth management.

The Group's HEART sector strategy, focused lending and advisory attention on Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Transportation, remains the centrepiece of Sterling's positioning as a bank oriented toward sectors with direct development impact. Digital banking products, including the Sterling Online App, continue to underpin the retail side of the business, and the removal of account maintenance fees during the period was cited by MD Abubakar Suleiman as a deliberate move to reduce friction between customers and everyday banking.