Infinity Trust loan growth draws on borrowings as funding costs increase

Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc expanded customer loans to N36.69 billion at September 30, 2026, from N30.04 billion at the end of 2025, while borrowed funds increased considerably faster than customer deposits. The shift highlights the funding requirements behind the lender's growing balance sheet.

The bank's unaudited nine-month financial statements filed with the Nigerian Exchange also report profit after tax of N2.61 billion, compared with N2.09 billion a year earlier. The report contains inconsistencies in its equity reconciliation and approval dates, so those items require clarification and are not used here to infer a capital increase or distribution entitlement.

Borrowings supplied most of the funding expansion

Debt issued and other borrowed funds rose to N26.87 billion from N18.88 billion at December 31, an increase of approximately N7.99 billion. Amounts due to customers increased by about N369 million to N11.20 billion. BusinessPress calculations put those growth rates at 42.3 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.

The contrast shows that deposit growth was not the principal counterpart to the expansion in reported lending. Borrowing can provide capacity to originate longer-term assets, but its suitability depends on maturity, pricing and repayment terms. The aggregate figures do not establish that the bank faces a maturity mismatch; they establish why the structure of borrowed funding matters to the next assessment.

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Interest income grew, but funding costs rose faster

Interest and similar income reached N5.89 billion in the nine months, compared with N3.80 billion. Interest expense increased to N2.19 billion from N1.23 billion. Net interest income therefore rose to N3.70 billion from N2.58 billion, even though the expense line grew faster in percentage terms than income.

Calculated from those figures, interest expense absorbed approximately 37.1 per cent of interest income, compared with 32.2 per cent a year earlier. This is an income-statement ratio, not a net interest margin or an average funding rate. It nevertheless indicates that a larger share of interest receipts was needed to cover the reported cost of funding before other expenses.

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Fees and other income moved against the lending gains

Net fees and commission income declined to N159.29 million from N196.16 million. Other operating income also fell, to N442.46 million from N583.85 million. The bank consequently relied on the increase in net interest income to lift total operating income to N4.30 billion from N3.36 billion.

This earnings mix matters for a mortgage lender because lending-related income and fees respond to different combinations of balances, pricing and transactions. A larger loan book can support interest generation without producing an equivalent increase in transaction fees. The filing does not provide enough evidence to attribute the decline in fees to weaker customer demand or a specific change in charges.

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Higher credit costs accompanied the larger loan book

The credit-loss expense increased to N84.89 million from N55.27 million. Total operating expenses rose to N1.46 billion from N1.13 billion, including higher personnel and other operating costs. Despite these increases, the income statement records pretax profit of N2.76 billion, against N2.18 billion in the comparative nine months.

A larger impairment charge does not establish that all additional lending has deteriorated, and the charge alone cannot be used to calculate a non-performing-loan ratio. It is an expense recognised under the bank's credit-loss assessment. For investors, the relevant question is whether asset quality and repayment performance remain consistent with the growth in outstanding loans.

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More assets do not establish broader mortgage access

Total assets increased to N54.87 billion from N44.76 billion at December 31. Amounts due from banks rose to N10.54 billion from N7.75 billion, alongside the increase in customer lending. These balances indicate an enlarged institution, but do not disclose how many additional households obtained mortgages or whether borrowing became more affordable.

For Nigeria's housing market, that distinction is important. The value of a loan book can change through larger facilities and movements in existing balances as well as new customers. Without borrower counts, loan pricing, tenor and origination data, the financial statements cannot support a claim that the expansion translates into a particular number of new homeowners.

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The filing's income statement reports N2.61 billion net profit, while the balance sheet presents a different current-year profit amount and the equity statement carries a different equity total. This report therefore treats its profit figure as specifically the income-statement result. Clarification of those differences, together with funding terms and loan performance, is needed before making firmer claims about distributable earnings or capital strength.