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‘UBA’s diversity, digital platforms key to financial gains’

Keneddy Uzoka

Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has assured its stakeholders of excellent performance in this financial year, as it deepens its foothold to reap the benefits of its investments in strong and innovative digital product offerings and expanded scope over the past few years.

UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Uzoka, added that with its diversified business model and keen ventures into key markets in Africa and beyond, investors will enjoy huge financial benefits and dividends in the current financial year and beyond.

Uzoka said this during the Investors/Analysts Conference Call at the bank’s Head Office in Lagos, following the release of its results for the full year ended December 31, 2021.

He explained that UBA’s diversified model remains one of its best growth strategies as seen from the huge contribution of its subsidiaries into the business in the last financial year.

Uzoka said: “Considering the significant investment the bank has made over the years across the globe – this is about $105 million in 20 African countries. It also cuts across the United Kingdom, France and the United Arab Emirates, and the fact that UBA is the only sub-Saharan bank with a deposit-taking license in the United States of America – we are indeed beginning to reap the benefits of our investments.

“It is expected that as the operations continue to grow, the bank will be able to realise the full benefits of its investments in multiples and will thereby, deliver much higher dividend returns to shareholders in the years ahead.”

It is expected that as the operations continue to grow, the bank will be able to realise the full benefits of its investments in multiples and will thereby, deliver much higher dividend returns to shareholders in the years ahead.

Breaking down the full year 2021 financial results to the investors, Uzoka noted that gross earnings rose significantly to N660.2 billion or 7% increase over the N616.8 billion recorded the same period in 2020.

Also, total assets grew by 11% to an unprecedented N8.5 trillion in the year under review, up from N7.7 trillion in 2020, making the first time the Bank’s assets will cross the N8 trillion mark.

UBA’s Profit Before Tax was impressive with a 20.3% growth to N153.1 billion, compared to N127.3 billion at the end of the 2020 financial year as Profit After Tax rose by 8.7% to N118.7 billion in 2021, compared to N109.2 billion a year ago.

As a result, the Bank proposed a total dividend of N1.00, comprising an interim dividend of 20 kobo, already paid, and a final dividend of 80 kobo, to be presented to shareholders for approval at the 60th Annual General Meeting scheduled for April 7, 2022.

Continuing, the GMD explained that the quality of UBA staff, its portfolio, as well as the strength of its credit risk management frameworks and policies, remain the bedrock of the bank’s positive and sustained results.

He added that “Our current performance highlights our customer focus leveraging on our three levers, which are: people, process and technology; and so we see that as a well-diversified financial institution, UBA remains very strongly capitalised to take advantage of opportunities in the future.”

We are reinforcing our digital banking and payment offerings as we continue to see a stronger proportion of non-interest income to total income in the days ahead.

Payments infrastructure

UBA’s Group Chief Finance Officer, Ugo Nwaghodoh, in response to questions at the conference call, assured investors that the bank is committed to further strengthening its payments infrastructure to fully absorb the growing clientele in the digital space.

“Our records show a very well-diversified loan book across various critical sectors across the economies in which we operate and the diversification is in both industry sectors, across geographies and customer segments.

“We are reinforcing our digital banking and payment offerings as we continue to see a stronger proportion of non-interest income to total income in the days ahead,” Nwaghodoh said.

UBA connects people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance, and ancillary banking services.

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