On June 14, the CBN banks to suspend dividend payments to shareholders temporarily, bonuses to directors and senior management staff, and halt investments in foreign subsidiaries or new offshore ventures to enhance capital buffers and provisioning adequacy for their forbearance exposure and single obligor limits (SOL).

Two days later, Renaissance Capital named Zenith Bank as one of six banks affected by the CBN directive.

In a corporate disclosure on Tuesday by Michael Otu, the company’s secretary, the bank said it has already raised and surpassed the N500 billion minimum capital requirement set by the apex bank, ahead of the March 2026 deadline.

The lender clarified that its exposure under the single obligor limit (SOL) forbearance relates to a single customer and will be brought within the regulatory limit before June 30.

A single obligor limit refers to the maximum amount of credit a financial institution is allowed to lend to a single borrower or a group of related borrowers.

“With respect to the forbearance granted on other credit facilities, the Bank confirms that this applies to only two (2) customers,” the bank said.

“We have made substantial provisions in respect of these facilities and have taken appropriate and comprehensive steps to ensure full provisioning by 30 June 2025.

“Upon completion, the Bank will no longer be under any forbearance arrangements in this regard. The Bank expects to have exited all CBN forbearance arrangements by the end of the first half of 2025.

“We are confident that the Bank will satisfy all relevant conditions to enable it to pay dividends to shareholders in the current year,” the lender said.

Zenith Bank added that it has taken appropriate and comprehensive steps to ensure full provisioning by June and expressed optimism about maintaining dividend payouts for 2025.