Guaranty Trust Bank Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company licensed to provide commercial and other banking services to the Nigerian public in 1990. The Bank commenced operations in February 1991, and has since then grown to become one of the most respected and service focused banks in Nigeria.
In September 1996, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited became a publicly quoted company and won the Nigerian Stock Exchange President's Merit award that same year and subsequently in the years 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. In February 2002, the Bank was granted a universal banking license and later appointed a settlement bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2003.
Guaranty Trust Bank Limited undertook its second share offering in 2004 and successfully raised over N11 billion from Nigerian Investors to expand its operations and favourably compete with other global financial institutions. This development ensured the Bank was satisfactorily poised to meet the ₦25 billion minimum capital base for banks introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005, as part of the regulating body's efforts to sanitize and strengthen Nigerian banks.
Post-consolidation, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited made a strategic decision to actively pursue retail banking. A major rebranding exercise followed in June 2005, which saw the Bank emerge with improved service offerings, an aggressive expansion strategy and its vibrant orange identity.
In 2007, the Bank entered the history books as the first Nigerian financial Institution to undertake a US$350 million regulation S Eurobond issue and a US$750 million Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) Offer. The listing of the GDRs on the London Stock Exchange in July that year made the Bank the first Nigerian Company and African Bank to be listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
In December 2009, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited successfully completed an offering of ₦13.165 Billion Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Non-Convertible Bonds Due 2014 (Series I), being first tranche under the Bank’s ₦200 Billion Debt Issuance Programme.
In May 2011, the Bank successfully launched a US$500 million bond - the first non-sovereign benchmark bond offering from sub-Saharan Africa (outside South Africa), to the international community. The highly successful offering which matures in 2016, went further to show the international finance community's believe in the GTBank brand.
In 2013, the Bank issued a USD 400,000,000 Euro bond at a coupon rate of 6%; the least obtained by a Nigerian company in the international capital market. The Eurobond was issued under the USD 2,000,000 Global Medium Term Note Programme, which is registered under both Regulation in the United State of America and Rule 144A in the United Kingdom and sold to investors across Africa, America, Asia and Europe.