We continue to reap the benefits of our diversification strategy – UBA

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc says it would continue to reap the benefits of its diversification strategy and customer-first philosophy and build resilience in its operations across Africa and beyond to support the mission of providing superior value to stakeholders.

Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Oliver Alawuba disclosed this while reacting to the bank’s third quarter results, showing double-digit growths across key performance indicators.

Gross earnings rose to N608 billion, up from N493 billion recorded in September 2021. Operating income also grew by 27.3 per cent to N414.1 billion in September 2022, up from N334.8 billion recorded in third quarter 2021. Profit before tax increased to N138.5 billion compared with N123.4 billion in 2021 while profit after tax also rose significantly by N116 billion up from N104.6 billion recorded in third quarter 2021.

The report underlined that UBA had continued to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with total assets rising to N9.3 trillion, representing a 9.1 per cent increase over the N8.5 trillion recorded at the end of December 2021.

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The bank benefitted largely from its technology-led initiatives targeted at improving customer experience over the past few years, with customer deposits rising to N7.03 trillion, representing a 10.4 per cent increase on N6.4 trillion posted at the end of the last financial year.

UBA shareholders’ funds remained very strong at N809 billion up from N805 billion recorded in December 2021, again reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.

Speaking on the report, Alawuba said; “Our strong diversification model and unwavering focus on customer satisfaction continues to give us an edge over our peers in the industry.”

“This has translated into strong financial gains evident in growth in our customer deposits and Net interest margin. In addition, we are strategically positioned to drive our market share in our operating countries, with the strong growth of our payments and transaction banking offerings.”

Also, the Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ugo Nwaghodoh, said; “UBA’s profitability is driven by underlying growth in key income lines and moderation in cost of funds.”

“We remain very cautious in risk asset creation as we defensively position our asset portfolios to minimize the impact of the heightened credit risk. Consequently, our non-performing loan ratio remains within acceptable threshold at 3.2 per cent.”