Ahead of the 2026 two-year deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for banks in the country to meet various minimum capital threshold, the board of Wema Bank Plc on Thursday announced plans for a capital raising exercise scheduled to begin April 14, 2025.

In a notice through the Nigerian Exchange Limited portal by Johnson Lebile, its Company Secretary/General Counsel, 80-year old Wema Bank, is seeking fresh N150bn fresh capital from existing shareholders by way of a Rights Issue of 14,286,785,417 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

The rights issues is on the basis of two new ordinary shares for every three ordinary shares at N10.45 per share, and is open to shareholders whose names are in the Register of members as of March 5, 2025.

The recapitalisation exercise, he said is “a key step that will consolidate the bank’s vision of becoming a Systematically Important Bank (SIB) and creating value for our esteemed shareholders.”

Wema Bank’s consistent growth in key performance indicators and market share, he continued, “reflects the success of our strategic initiatives and the trust our shareholders have shown us.”

Post-rights issue, he assured that “the board will ensure that the bank remains well-positioned to seize new opportunities in the evolving Nigerian banking landscape particularly by increasing lending to the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), retail, commercial and corporate sectors respectively.

“In addition, we would improve the Bank’s IT infrastructure and strengthen the bank’s digital platform- ALAT, which has facilitated our market penetration in great measures while also creating access to financial services to the young and tech-savvy generation in Nigeria.”

Lebile urged all qualified shareholders to exercise their rights in full and seize the pivotal moment in Wema Bank’s growth, thereby contributing to its future success but also solidify your stake in our long-term vision.

The Issuing Houses to the rights issuance, the statement added, are: Greenwich Merchant Bank Limited, GTI Capital Limited, Qualinvest Capital Limited and Raddix Capital.

According available data in the audited report for the year-ended December 31, 2025, strategic shareholders in the bank are: Neemtree Limited is the majority shareholder with 28.26%, same as in the corresponding period of 2023; followed by SW8 Invest Company, 17.08%, an increase from 14.90% at the end of 2023; and Petrotrab Limited, 6.89%, which dropped from 8.54%; while total government shareholding is 8.56% with Odu’a Investment accounting for 3.09%, compared to its previous 8.06%; followed by Ogun, and Osun, 1.73% each.

The 4.54% direct shareholding of board members leaves Wema Bank’s free float at 34.65%, which is compliant with the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s requirements for companies listed on the Main Board.