PremiumTrust Bank Wins Dual Credit Rating Upgrades

By Enam Obiosio

PremiumTrust Bank has received simultaneous credit rating upgrades from Agusto & Co. and DataPro Limited, strengthening its credit standing and providing fresh external validation of its capital position, liquidity and operating performance.

DEVELOPMENT

Agusto & Co. upgraded PremiumTrust Bank’s long-term rating from BBB+ to A- and its short-term rating from A2 to A1.

DataPro also raised the bank’s long-term rating from A- to A, while affirming its short-term rating at A1.

The agencies cited the bank’s robust capitalisation, strong liquidity, asset quality, profitability and risk management, alongside the depth of its management team and governance framework.

PremiumTrust, which commenced operations four years ago, has also expanded its physical and digital banking infrastructure. Its branch network now stands at 33 locations nationwide, while its digital platform has been upgraded with AI-powered and personalised banking features.

NUMBERS

PremiumTrust Bank’s capital adequacy ratio increased from 20.8 percent to 40.8 percent, while its liquidity ratio stood at 71.1 percent.

Its net interest margin was 83.3 percent, with a non-performing loan ratio of just 0.2 percent and cost of funds at 3.2 percent.

The bank recorded a 23.2 percent cost-to-income ratio and 84.6 percent pre-tax return on equity, which Agusto & Co. identified as the highest in the Nigerian banking industry.

For FY2025, PremiumTrust reported N177.1 billion in pre-tax profit and N1.7 trillion in total assets.

The bank currently operates 33 branches across Nigeria.

SIGNIFICANCE

The dual upgrades matter because credit ratings provide an independent assessment of a bank’s capacity to meet its financial obligations and can influence how counterparties, investors and other financial institutions assess its creditworthiness.

The movement into the A category places PremiumTrust in a stronger external credit position, while the A1 short-term rating signals very strong capacity to meet short-term obligations.

More importantly, the ratings point to the quality of the bank’s balance sheet. The combination of high capital adequacy, strong liquidity and very low NPLs provides a substantial buffer against credit and funding risks.

For a relatively young bank, the scale of profitability and balance-sheet expansion also indicates that PremiumTrust is moving beyond its establishment phase and building the financial capacity required for a larger competitive footprint.

NEXT MOVE

The key watchpoint is whether PremiumTrust can sustain its current profitability, capital strength and asset quality as it expands its branch network and digital operations.

Investors and the market should also watch how the bank deploys its substantial capital buffer, particularly whether further balance-sheet growth translates into sustainable earnings without weakening asset quality or increasing funding costs.

The next ratings cycle will provide another test of whether the current financial metrics represent a durable operating profile rather than a point-in-time improvement.

OUR LENS

The significance of the upgrades goes beyond the movement from BBB+ to A- or A- to A. They provide external validation that PremiumTrust has built a relatively strong balance sheet in a short operating period.

The deeper signal is now capital deployment. With capital adequacy at 40.8 percent and assets at N1.7 trillion, the strategic question shifts from whether the bank has financial capacity to whether it can deploy that capacity into sustained, quality growth without sacrificing the asset quality and efficiency that earned the upgrades.

Enam Obiosio is a public relations and investor relations practitioner and journalist with experience in arts and business journalism, with expertise spanning financial markets, economic policy, infrastructure, corporate communications, and the creative economy.