Zenith Bank reported roughly twice the net profit it earned in the first half of last year in the same period this year, its audited financial records show, helped by sharp increases in lending rate introduced by the country’s central bank earlier in the year in its push to slow down inflation.
Interest and similar income of Nigeria’s second-largest lender by market value raced by 176.7 per cent to N1.1 trillion, and alone accounted for above half of the revenue generated within the period.
Even after interest expense was deducted from that sum, what remained was a great deal for the bank as net interest income stood at N715.1 billion, compared to N261.9 billion a year earlier.
