Leveraging its expansive footprint, pan-African banking group, United Bank for Africa Plc (“UBA” or “the Bank”), announced its unaudited Third Quarter Financial Results, showing a 7% year-on-year growth in profit before tax to N62 billion despite the challenging macro-economic environment. This represents an impressive 18.2% annualized return on average equity.

The Bank recorded an appreciable growth in both funding and fee income lines.

“I am pleased with our performance in the first nine months of the year. Notwithstanding the negative economic growth in Nigeria, we maintained growth in earnings and sustained our asset quality. Increasingly, we are leveraging our unique pan-African platform to drive new customer acquisition and grow market share across our African subsidiaries” said Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director and CEO of UBA Plc.

Furthermore, the Bank’s level of impairment in its overall loan book was moderate. The Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio of 2.5% and 0.9% cost of risk remain one of the best in the industry.

UBA Plc’s third quarter results also show significant efficiency gains with appreciable growth in operating income by 11% to N183 billion while profit after tax rose by 8% to N52 billion within the period. Though partly driven by the depreciation in the value of the naira, UBA also recorded a significant 21% year-to-date growth in deposits and a similar 26% growth in total assets. The bank also ensured that cost-to-income ratio remained flat year-on-year at 65% despite   external cost pressures which masked the positive results of its cost efficiency initiatives.

Also speaking on the results, Group CFO, Ugo Nwaghodoh, said “the growth in deposits and total assets reflects the Bank’s increased share of customers’ wallet and deepening banking penetration across all its chosen markets in Nigeria and Africa which again accounted for a third of the Group’s earnings.”

The Group GCFO assured that UBA will continue  to balance its  appetite for growth and profitability with the strategy of sustaining strong liquidity and capital ratios. The Bank maintained 43% liquidity ratio and 17.6% BASEL II capital adequacy ratio, well ahead of regulatory requirement.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc is a leading financial services group in sub-Saharan Africa with presence in 19 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France.

From a single country operation founded in 1949 in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, UBA has emerged as a pan-African provider of banking and other financial services, to some 11 million customers globally, through one of the most diverse service channels in sub-Sahara Africa; 632 business offices, 1,798 ATMs, some 13,500 PoS, and a robust internet and mobile banking platform.