UBA leads as Banks spend N12.2bn on travel expenses in 2020

United Bank of Africa (UBA) incurred N4.94bn as travel expenses in 2020, a sizable chunk of the N12.2bn incurred by ten banks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)  as travel expenses in 2020.

This represents a 38.7% drop from the N19.8 billion spent in the same period in 2019, and is much lower than the N22.56 billion recorded in 2018. These were obtained from the banks’ financial reports.

The banks are GTBank, Zenith Bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA), First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), Fidelity Bank Plc, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC, FCMB, and Sterling Bank Plc.

At the top is UBA which incurred N4.94 billion as against N7.06 billion in 2019, followed by FBN with N3.67 billion as against N6.78 billion in 2019.

FBN is the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. It has other companies under its umbrella, including FBNQuest Capital Ltd, FBNQuest Securities Ltd, FBNQuest Capital Asset Management Ltd, etc.

The third on the highest travel list is Zenith Bank with N1.882 billion in 2020 as against N2.751 billion in 2019, while on the other hand, Fidelity Bank spent the least on travels in 2020, compared with all of its competitors.

The financial institution spent N217 million in 2020. It also recorded the lowest in 2019 when it spent N317 million on travels.

According to information obtained from GTBank’s audited financial statement for full-year 2020, about N287 million was spent on travels in 2020. The amount is less than the N726 million, which the bank incurred for the same purpose in 2019, and the N727 million in 2018. This is the lowest amount that was spent by a tier-1 bank in 2020.

Stanbic IBTC travel costs stood at N676 million in 2020. This is less than the N1.731 billion, which the company spent on trips during the comparable period in 2019 and N1.897 billion in 2018.

Union Bank also recorded a low travel expense in 2020; it spent N514 million against the N518 million incurred in 2019 and N1.136 billion in 2018.