Nigeria’s prime banks ramped up their investments in expertise infrastructure in 2024, collectively spending N518.5 billion to modernize their operations.
This marks a 109% enhance in comparison with the N248 billion they spent in 2023, in response to the audited {financial} statements of eight banks.
From sweeping core banking software program upgrades to rolling out AI-powered platforms and bettering cellular apps, the surge in spending displays a strategic shift: digital banking is not a characteristic; it’s the spine of monetary companies.
Among the many largest spenders was Entry Holdings, which splashed a staggering N193.5 billion on IT in 2024, up 148% from N78 billion in 2023.
Whereas the {bank} didn’t announce a serious core banking overhaul like a few of its friends, it quietly executed a number of system upgrades over weekends to keep away from service disruptions.
The dimensions of its spending factors to aggressive funding in digital infrastructure to help its pan-African ambitions and rising retail footprint.
Fidelity Bank made some of the dramatic leaps in proportion phrases, rising its IT spend by 239% from N16.5 billion in 2023 to N56 billion in 2024.
The sharp enhance alerts a serious digital shift for the tier-2 lender, probably in pursuit of a stronger place in Nigeria’s more and more tech-driven banking panorama.
In the meantime, Wema Bank posted the smallest general determine, N5.5 billion, however recorded the best proportion progress, 292.9%, a big leap from the N1.4 billion it spent in 2023.
Though First {Bank} Holdings has additionally printed its 2024 financials, the corporate didn’t disclose IT-related expenditures.
Sterling Bank, which additionally carried out a migration to a brand new core banking software final yr, has but to launch its {financial} outcomes as of the time of submitting this report.
The wave of tech funding comes as conventional banks face heightened stress from agile fintech rivals like OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint.
In keeping with the Chief Government Officer of Clane, a cellular cost firm, Mr. Dipo Alabede, the banks have realized that funding in digital infrastructure is the one technique to stay forward of the curve within the extremely aggressive digital cost area.
However for him, the present spending might not simply be sufficient, because the growing adoption of digital funds implies that “the banks must also count on an increase in cyber threats, together with phishing assaults, ransomware, and information breaches, thus investing in cybersecurity is crucial.”
Additionally talking with Nairametrics, the Chief Expertise Officer at Onafriq, Mr Tayo Ogunlade, concurred that a rise in digital funds comes with a rise in cybersecurity threats for the banks.
For him, past funding in IT infrastructure and cybersecurity, Nigerian banks would wish to collaborate to strengthen the digital cost system and decrease dangers.
