By Favour Nnabugwu
Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced remarkable performance in its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, the bank’s Gross Earnings rose to $1.4billion, up from $1.13billion recorded in September 2021.
Also, UBA’s operating income also grew by 27.3 percent to close at $951.9million as at September 2022, up from $769.6million achieved a year earlier.
The bank records impressive growth across all its major indices, replicating the commendable performance it achieved in the first two quarters of the current fiscal year..
In its financial report filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), UBA reported a 12.3% rise in Profit Before Tax to close at $318.4 million compared to $283.7million recorded at the end of the third quarter of 2021, while Profit After Tax also rose significantly by 10.9% to $266.6 million up from $240.4 million recorded a year earlier, thus sustaining its annualised return on average equity for Q3 2022 at 19.2%.
As always, UBA continues to maintain a very strong balance sheet, with Total Assets rising to $21.2 billion, representing a 9.1% increase over the $19.4 billion recorded at the end of December 2021, just as the bank benefitted largely from its technology-led initiatives targeted at improving customer experience over the past few years, with Customer Deposits rising to $16.06 billion, representing a 10.4% rise, up from $14.6 billion at the end of the last financial year.
UBA shareholders’ funds remained very strong at $1.85 billion up from $1.84 billion recorded in December 2021 again reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.
Commenting on the result, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba, remarked that the Group continues to show notable operating resilience amidst significant headwinds in its presence markets amidst a heightened global risk environment, adding that its strong diversification model and unwavering focus on customer satisfaction continues to give the bank an edge over its peers in the industry.
He said, “We continue to reap the benefits of our diversification strategy and Customer -1st philosophy and build resilience in our operations across Africa and the rest of the world to support the mission of providing superior value to our stakeholders.
“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,” Alawuba stated.
Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said, “The Group’s profitability increased by 12.3% to $318.4 million, with underlying growth in our key income lines and moderation in our 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 NPL ratio remains within acceptable threshold at 3.2%.”
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty-five (25) million customers, across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries. With presence in New York, London, Paris, and Dubai, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.
