The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has announced its audited financial results for the half-year ending June 30, 2024, showcasing impressive growth across key financial metrics despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.
The bank’s gross earnings surged by 39.6%, rising from N981.77 billion in 2023 to N1.371 trillion in June 2024. Interest income also saw a remarkable increase of 134.3%, climbing to N1.003 trillion from N428.2 billion in the same period last year.
Total assets rose by 37.2%, reaching N28.3 trillion, while customer deposits jumped by 33.7% to N23.2 trillion, up from N17.3 trillion at the end of 2023.
Although profit before tax (PBT) slightly decreased to N402 billion from N403 billion in June 2023, profit after tax (PAT) fell from N378 billion to N316 billion. Nevertheless, the bank’s shareholders’ funds increased significantly by 47%, from N2.03 trillion in December 2023 to N2.99 trillion.
In a notable move, the Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of N2.00 per share, reflecting a 300% increase compared to the N0.50 declared during the same period in 2023.
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Alawuba, while commenting on the results underscored the bank’s commitment to consistently delivering value to its shareholders.
He said, “UBA Group has continued to deliver strong double-digit growth in high quality and sustainable banking revenue streams, driven by a focused growth in balance sheet, transaction and digital banking businesses across geographies in line with our strategic goals.”
Continuing, the GMD said, “The Group’s performance has been buoyed by consistent strong growth in all core and sustainable banking income lines. Our intermediation business showed strong growth with net interest income expanding by 143% YoY to N675 billion”.
On the plans for the rest of the year, Alawuba said, “As the Group intensifies its customer acquisition drive, we are making significant investments in technology, data analytics, product research and innovation to enhance our value proposition and customer experience.”
The Executive Director, Finance & Risk, Ugo Nwaghodoh, expressed delight at the milestone achieved by the bank in driving operational efficiency, as reflected in the cost-to-income ratio normalising around the 50% range.
“Our cost optimization provides scope for further moderation, as we explore options towards a drastic reduction of our foreign currency denominated cost components, robotizing and automation of processes and application of artificial intelligence to our operations,” he stated.
He disclosed that the Group will focus on effectively managing the heightened credit, operational, cyber and information security risks, as it continues to conduct its business within the tenets of our moderate risk appetite in alignment with our sustainability goals.
“The Group has made significant progress and is on course to shore up its share capital to support its medium to long term aspirations, whilst aligning with the recent regulatory requirement in Nigeria and other jurisdictions. that we operate in,” Nwaghodoh further explained.
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty-five million customers across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries.
With a 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.
