Retail investors flooded the Nigerian Exchange in the first five months of 2026, yet the banking rally that attracted them has paid out in wildly unequal measure. A ₦100,000 stake in First HoldCo at the start of the year would have grown to roughly ₦269,000 by late August, while the same bet on UBA barely moved to ₦106,000.
The participation surge
Trading by retail participants jumped 138.76% year-on-year between January and May, pushing ₦2.86 trillion ($2.13 billion) through the equities market. The inflow coincided with a sharp run in bank shares as investors positioned for earnings leverage from newly enlarged balance sheets.
The capital backdrop
Between March 2024 and March 2026, the country’s largest lenders, Access Holdings, GTCO, UBA, First HoldCo and Zenith Bank, raised ₦3.37 trillion ($2.51 billion) in fresh equity from domestic shareholders. The proceeds are meant to fund loan growth, expand fee businesses and chase larger corporate and retail mandates.
The dispersion
The source’s methodology compares each stock’s first 2026 trade against its August 26 close, stripping out dividends, fees and taxes. First HoldCo delivered a 169.3% price gain, GTCO 40.7%, Access Holdings 31.2%, and UBA just 6%. Zenith Bank’s figures were not fully disclosed in the data set.
First HoldCo leads
First HoldCo opened the year at ₦47.90 and closed the period at ₦129, lifting its market value to ₦5.71 trillion ($4.25 billion). In July the company pledged to pay at least 60% of post-tax profit as dividends after skipping a full-year payout for 2025. The share price subsequently pushed past ₦136, taking market capitalisation above ₦6 trillion ($4.47 billion).
UBA lags
UBA started at ₦41.65 and ended at ₦44.15, a market cap of ₦1.97 trillion ($1.47 billion). The bank withheld a dividend for the 2025 financial year, citing regulatory-driven provisioning. Two days after releasing those results in April, the stock dropped to ₦44.60 from ₦55. Management has said it aims to resume payouts once the provisioning pressure eases.