Tony Chukwunyem 
Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, Stanbic IBTC PLC and Citibank Nigeria Limited attracted a total of $992.45 million or 76.69 per cent of the total capital inflow into the country in Q2’20, findings by New Telegraph show. According to the latest Nigerian Capital Importation report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last week, the total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $1.29 billion in the second quarter of 2020, which represents a decrease of 77.88 per cent compared to Q1’20 and 78.60 per cent in Q2’19.
New Telegraph’s analysis of the report indicates that in terms of the amount of capital attracted by lenders, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited emerged tops in Q2’20 with $425.21million, accounting for 32.84per cent of the total capital inflow in Q2’20. It was followed by Stanbic IBTC Plc, which attracted $345.30 million, which represents 26.68 per cent of the total capital inflow during the review period. Citibank Nigeria Limited comes next with $221.94 million, representing 17.15 per cent of the total capital inflow into the country in Q2’20.
Thus, the three lenders attracted a total of $992.45 million capital inflows to the country in the second quarter of this year. This represents 76.69 per cent of the total capital importation received by the country in the review period. Further analysis of the NBS figures shows that of the 25 banks that the bureau provided data on, 17 attracted capital inflows in Q2’20, while eight did not. Apart from the top three lenders that attracted the most capital inflows during the period- Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, Stanbic IBTC Plc and Citibank Nigeria Limited- others that also attracted significant amounts include First Bank of Nigeria Ltd ($64.43 million); FCMB ($46.49 million); Access Bank ($44.17 million);Rand Merchant Bank ($37.20 million); Ecobank Nigeria ($35.15 million); Union Bank($22.33 million) and Zenith Bank ($21.63 million).
New Telegraph’s review of the NBS’ previous capital Importation reports also shows that most of the aforementioned banks featured prominently. For instance, the bureau’s Q1’20 report indicated that Citi Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank were foreign investors’ favourites for investment deals during the period.
Specifically, the report showed that the most investment came through Standard Chartered Bank as the lender attracted $1.656 billion worth of investment in the first quarter of this year, compared to $1.076 billion during the comparable quarter in 2019. Stanbic IBTC followed with $1.37 billion worth of foreign investment, while Citi Bank Nigeria occupied the third position having attracted $688.44 million inflows as against $770 million recorded in Q1 2019. Others are First Bank ($677.61 million), Rand Merchant Bank ($611.68 million), Access Bank ($257.31 million), GTBank ($91.46 million), UBA Plc ($79.60 million) and Union Bank of Nigeria ( $43.30 million).
In addition, the NBS Q4’19 capital importation report shows that Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC attracted the highest amount of capital imported into Nigeria in Q4 and full-year 2019. Similarly, the Bureau’s Q3’19 report showed that out of 26 banks foreign investors used to deploy foreign capital into the country during the period, the most investment also came through Stanbic IBTC Bank.
The lender attracted $1.63 billion worth of investment in the third quarter of last year, followed by Ecobank with $754.38 million worth of foreign investment, while Standard Chartered Bank occupied the third position by attracting $502.47 million inflows. During the same period, Access Bank got $477.55 million; Rand Merchant Bank, $430.15 million; Citibank Nigeria Limited; $350.95 million while First Bank of Nigeria had $307.94 million. Analysts point out that it is not surprising that lenders such as, Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank Nigeria Limited and Rand Merchant Bank, consistently emerge as investors’ favourites in the NBS’ capital importation reports given that the financial institutions are majorityowned by foreign entities.
Notably, the NBS Q2’20 capital importation report states that: “The United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment to Nigeria in Q2’20 with $428.83 million. This accounted for 33.12 per cent of the total capital inflow in Q2’20.”
The report further states that “the largest amount of capital importation by type was received through other investment, which accounted for 58.77 per cent ($761.03 million) of total capital imported, followed by Portfolio Investment, which accounted for 29.76 per cent ($385.32 million) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which accounted for 11.47 per cent ($148.59 million) of total capital imported in Q2’20. “By sector, capital importation by shares dominated in Q2 ‘20 reaching $464.57 million of the total capital importation in Q2’20. “By destination of investment, Lagos state emerged as the top destination of capital investment in Nigeria in Q2’20 with $1,130.49 million. This accounted for 87.30 per cent of the total capital inflow in Q2’20.”
