Stanbic vs Wema, which of the mid-tier bank won Q1 2026?

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and Wema Bank Plc have released their Q1 2026 results, extending the strong momentum recorded in the 2025 financial year.

But while both banks delivered impressive numbers, the story behind their performance is very different.

Before going into the earnings, it is important to look at how the market has priced both stocks.

Stanbic IBTC has recorded the stronger rally so far, with its share price gaining 74.5% to close at N174.50 last week, pushing its market capitalization to about N2.77 trillion.

Wema Bank has also delivered a strong market performance, gaining 63.7% to close at N33.40, with its market capitalization rising to about N1.34 trillion.

The question now is whether these rallies are backed by the numbers, and more importantly, which of the two mid-tier banks delivered the stronger Q1 2026 performance.

Stanbic came into the quarter with a bigger balance sheet, stronger non-interest income, and a more diversified earnings base.

Wema, on the other hand, delivered faster profit growth, stronger loan-led expansion and a cleaner improvement in net interest income.

At the headline level, Stanbic reported higher profit. However, when growth, asset mix, funding cost, impairment, trading income and efficiency are stripped down, the comparison becomes more interesting.

Interest income: Wema had a stronger growth 

Stanbic’s interest income rose only 3.2% to N186.32 billion, from N180.47 billion in Q1 2025.

• Interest from customer loans fell by 8.7% to N107.64 billion, while interest from investments rose 27.4% to N74.54 billion.
• As a result, investments accounted for 40.0% of total interest income in Q1 2026, up from 32.4% in Q1 2025.
• This indicates that Stanbic leaned more on securities and investment assets for earnings, while the contribution from customer loans weakened.

Wema Bank’s interest income rose strongly by 63.5% to N179.96 billion in Q1 2026 from N110.08 billion in Q1 2025.

• The biggest driver was interest income from loans and advances to banks and customers, which increased by 50.0% to N96.48 billion.
• The most striking movement, however, came from cash and cash equivalents, where interest income jumped to N40.28 billion from just N652.42 million in Q1 2025. This line moved from contributing only 0.6% of interest income in Q1 2025 to 22.4% in Q1 2026.
• Interest income from investment securities declined slightly by 4.2% to N43.20 billion. This is consistent with the earlier balance sheet data, where Wema’s investment securities reduced in Q1 2026, especially securities held at fair value through profit or loss and amortized cost.

Verdict: Wema wins the interest income round. Stanbic still generated slightly higher interest income, but Wema delivered the stronger growth, better loan-income momentum, and a sharper expansion in its core interest-earning engine.

Asset mix: securities-heavy Stanbic vs loan-led Wema 

Stanbic’s balance sheet became more securities-heavy in Q1 2026.

• Its trading assets rose by 166.9% to N2.30 trillion, while financial investments stood at N1.30 trillion.
• Combined, Stanbic’s investment securities stood at about N3.61 trillion, compared with total loans and advances of N2.83 trillion.

Wema went in the opposite direction. Its customer loans rose 7.2% to N1.86 trillion, while investment securities declined by about 15.1% to N1.13 trillion.

Verdict: Wema wins on traditional loan growth, but Stanbic wins on balance-sheet scale and market positioning.

Funding: Stanbic has cheaper structure, Wema has stronger deposit growth 

Stanbic’s customer deposits declined by 6.7% to N4.08 trillion; however, the quality of the deposit base improved.

• Current accounts rose, savings accounts increased slightly, and term deposits dropped sharply.
• CASA ratio, using current and savings accounts, improved to 71.5% from 62.6%.
• However, interest expenses on customers’ deposits increased by 86% YoY to N37.2 billion.

Wema’s customer deposits rose 3.6% to N3.41 trillion, showing better deposit growth. However, its interest expense on customer deposits more than doubled to N74.64 billion, making customer deposits responsible for 92.7% of its total interest expense.

Verdict: Stanbic wins this round because its funding base appears cheaper and more efficient.

Impairment: Wema had the cleaner credit-cost story 

Impairment, which shows how much banks lose, trying to make earnings is one of the most important lines in this comparison.

Stanbic moved from a net impairment write-back of N3.45 billion in Q1 2025 to a net impairment loss of N2.87 billion in Q1 2026.

• The pressure came mainly from expected credit losses on customer loans, especially lifetime ECL, not credit impaired.

Wema’s impairment charge moved in the opposite direction. Its total impairment charge fell by 21.0% to N1.44 billion, from N1.82 billion in Q1 2025.

• This was despite higher impairment charges on loans and advances, as recoveries on loans helped cushion the impact.

Verdict: Wema wins this round.

Non-interest income: Stanbic’s strongest advantage

Stanbic’s non-interest revenue rose to N130.31 billion from N53.12 billion, supported by strong net fee and commission income, especially asset management fees of N38.61 billion, and trading revenue.

• Net fee and commission revenue rose 25.14% to N75.44 billion, while trading revenue swung from a N6.97 billion loss in Q1 2025 to a N55.16 billion gain in Q1 2026.
• Wema’s non-interest income declined 15.1% to N24.86 billion. Fee and commission income fell 30.6%, dragged by weaker electronic product fees, FX transaction fees and financial guarantee fees.
• The positive line was trading income, which jumped 288.2% to N5.83 billion, driven largely by Treasury bill trading income.

The key difference is that Stanbic has a deeper non-interest income engine. Its asset management, advisory, custody, and trading operations provide a stronger earnings base outside traditional lending.

Wema’s trading income improved, but it was not enough to offset the weakness in fee and commission income.

Verdict: Stanbic wins this round.

Cost efficiency:

Stanbic’s total operating expenses rose by 8.7% to N97.91 billion, while total income rose by 31.1%. That gave it a cost-to-income ratio of about 36.8%, compared with 44.4% in Q1 2025.

Wema also improved efficiency. Its total operating expenses rose 17.2% to N50.29 billion, while operating income rose 46.0% to N122.85 billion. This reduced its cost-to-income ratio to 40.9%, from 51.0% in Q1 2025.

• AMCON levy remained a major cost line for both banks, accounting for 39.6% of Stanbic’s other operating expenses and 25.7% of Wema’s in Q1 2026.

Verdict: Stanbic wins on current efficiency; Wema wins on improvement.

Earnings per share. 

Wema reported a higher Q1 2026 EPS of 790.32 kobo, compared with Stanbic’s 715 kobo. Stanbic, however, delivered clearer year-on-year EPS growth, rising from 510 kobo in Q1 2025.

Verdict: Wema wins on EPS level, while Stanbic wins on year-on-year EPS growth.

Final verdict: Who won Q1 2026? 

Stanbic IBTC won the quarter on scale, diversification, non-interest income, trading strength, cost efficiency and EPS growth.

Wema won the quarter on growth momentum, net interest income expansion, loan growth and impairment improvement.

But if the question is: which bank delivered the stronger overall Q1 2026 performance?

The answer is Stanbic IBTC.

Stanbic’s earnings base is broader, its profit pool is larger, its non-interest income engine is stronger, and it remains more efficient.

Its result also shows a diversified financial services group benefiting from banking, markets, asset management, and investment-related activities.

However, Wema deserves credit for delivering one of the stronger growth stories among mid-tier banks. Its Q1 performance shows a bank expanding core lending, growing deposits, improving net interest income, and keeping impairments contained.