South Africa’s FirstRand Bank targets Nigeria, Ghana expansion

FirstRand Ltd. is exploring expansion opportunities in Nigeria and Ghana as the South African financial group looks to increase its footprint across West Africa.

The Johannesburg-based lender, widely regarded as Africa’s largest listed financial services company by market value, said it is assessing ways to grow its operations in the two economies with the goal of becoming a top-three bank in both markets.

Chief executive Mary Vilakazi said improving economic conditions in the region are encouraging the bank to pursue expansion.

“From a macroeconomic point of view, Ghana and Nigeria are actually going through a much better period than they’ve had in the past because of the structural reforms they embarked upon, so we are looking very constructively at growing in those markets,” Vilakazi said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The bank’s strategy reflects a broader trend among South African lenders seeking growth beyond their home market, where economic expansion has remained modest.

While West Africa is attracting attention, FirstRand is also looking to deepen its presence in southern Africa. The bank said it plans to expand its operations in Zambia, where it recently acquired the wealth and retail-banking business of Standard Chartered Plc.

According to Vilakazi, the Zambian unit has been one of the group’s best performers in recent months.

“It’s actually one of the standout performers” in the second half of 2025, she said. “The ability to get further load and scale in that business is the kind of thing that we would like to see more of.”

The expansion push comes as other South African banks move to strengthen their presence across the continent. Earlier this year, Nedbank Group Ltd. agreed to buy a majority stake in NCBA Group Plc in Kenya, while Absa Group Ltd. acquired Standard Chartered’s wealth and retail banking business in Uganda.

Despite its continental ambitions, FirstRand said South Africa will remain its core market. The country accounted for about 81% of the group’s earnings in the six months ending December.

During that period, the bank reported record interim profits, with normalized earnings rising 11% to 23.2 billion rand ($1.4 billion) compared with the previous year. The lender also declared an interim dividend of 2.59 rand per share.

Revenue growth was driven by higher loan volumes and stronger fee-based income, particularly from insurance and global markets businesses.