Nigeria, April 5 -- Net profit at the banking holding company FCMB Group fell by more than one-fifth last year amid galloping cost pressures even though revenue grew by as much as 53.9 per cent.

These details are contained in the group's newly released audited earnings report.

The result bucks the trend of record profitmaking by the majority of Nigerian lenders that have so far published their financial statements for 2024 as a dramatic rise in the benchmark interest rate during the year sharply boosted the income banks earned from granting loans.

Gross earnings for FCMB Group climbed to N794.4 billion from N516.4 billion, with interest and discount income alone contributing almost four-fifths.

Even though interest income expanded by ...