Zenith Bank Plc’s Founder and Chairman, Dr. Jim Ovia, CFR, alongside the bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, OON, on Tuesday, 14 October 2025, performed the prestigious closing gong ceremony at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). The event marked the official end of the day’s trading and reinforced the bank’s long-standing partnership with the Exchange, as well as its commitment to transparency, accountability, and investor confidence.

Speaking during the ceremony, Dr. Umeoji expressed her delight at representing the bank, commending the NGX’s leadership for its innovation and forward-thinking initiatives.
“We are delighted to be here today to perform the closing gong ceremony – a symbol of shared progress and enduring partnership,” she said. “The NGX’s leadership has been exceptionally creative and innovative. Their electronic trading platform, X-Stream, was pivotal to the success of our recapitalisation exercise, which recorded a 160 per cent subscription rate. Following that, our stock price has doubled, rising from ₦36.50 to ₦68 per share.”

She added that Zenith Bank delivered strong financial results for the first half of 2025, emerging as Nigeria’s most profitable bank and paying the highest dividend in the industry for the period.
“We remain committed to creating value for our stakeholders and will continue to collaborate with the NGX to strengthen the Nigerian economy,” she said. “Our expansion strategy focuses on following our customers’ businesses into new markets where we can scale operations and generate more returns for shareholders.”

Dr. Umeoji further assured investors of enhanced dividends by year-end. “For us at Zenith, we are determined not to disappoint the market. We will continue to be the investors’ delight by paying quantum dividends to our shareholders,” she said.

In his remarks, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, commended the NGX’s contribution to economic growth. “Without your collective effort, the market wouldn’t have achieved the leap we’ve seen in the past 18 months. When I assumed office, market capitalisation stood at ₦55 trillion. Today, it fluctuates between ₦89 trillion and ₦93 trillion. That growth came through your vision, courage, and transparency. Our target is ₦200 trillion by next year,” he said.

The Doyen of the NGX, Alhaji Rasheed Yusuf, praised Dr. Ovia’s leadership and described him as “the Doyen of the commercial banking sector.”

Zenith Bank reaffirmed its long-term commitment to driving shareholder value and contributing to Nigeria’s economic development. The bank also plans to leverage capital raised from the market to fund its global expansion and enhance service delivery.

The bank’s consistent performance continues to earn it global recognition. Zenith Bank was recently ranked the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital for the sixteenth consecutive year in the Top 1000 World Banks 2025 by The Banker. It also received Nigeria’s Best Bank at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025, among numerous other accolades spanning 2020 to 2025, including honours for corporate governance, sustainability, innovation, and digital banking.