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UBA Posts 18% Growth In Earnings As Profit Hits N44.5b

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UBA Posts 18% Growth In Earnings As Profit Hits N44.5b
GMD/CEO Kennedy Uzoka

Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2022, recording impressive growth across its income lines.

The bank’s result which was released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday showed that gross earnings rose by 18.3% from N155.4 billion in 2021 to N183.9 billion; while operating income which stood at N106.6 billion as at March 2021, grew by N18% to N125.9 billion in the year under consideration.

The results revealed that the bank’s total assets also rose by 4.1% to N8.9 trillion in the period under review, compared to N8.5 trillion recorded at the end of the 2021 financial year; while shareholders’ funds grew by 2.6% to N825.7bn from N804.8 billion in the same period.

Leveraging on the growth in both interest and non-interest income, the bank’s profit before tax rose to N44.5 billion as at March 2022, up from N40.6 billion a year earlier, while profit after tax stood at N41.5 billion. As always, UBA sustained its strong profitability recording an annualized 20.4% Return on Average Equity (RoAE).

READ ALSO: Four Years On UBA’s Leo Continues To Lead In Nigeria, Africa

UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, explained that despite the myriad of economic challenges on the global front which shaped the first three months of the year, the bank’s business model continued to show resilience.

These challenges among others, he noted include the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine that has resulted in a huge supply shock, pushing up commodity prices; and the hike in the interest rates in most advanced countries aimed at tackling spiralling inflation, sparking capital flow reversal from emerging and frontier markets.

“Notwithstanding these developments, we were able to leverage gains from our large customer base and vast geographical spread to bolster earnings. We recorded double-digit growth of 18 percent in our gross earnings to N183.9 billion, with our Nigerian operation raking in 65 percent of the revenue while our operations in other countries accounted for the remainder, showing the diversity in our operations,” Uzoka said.

The GMD pointed out that amid the “Great Resignation” wave that has seen a record number of employees across the globe quit their jobs, disrupting the performance of many businesses, UBA, in the last quarter of 2021, thoughtfully reviewed upwards, the salaries of its staff as part of broad measures to retain talents, adding, “We believe our staff is part of our success story with their welfare as a top priority.”

Emphasising the bank’s commitment to sustain value for its shareholders in the 2022 financial year, the GMD said, “With strategies in place to further increase revenue and drive cost lower, we are determined to achieve our Cost-to-Income ratio target of below 60.0% by year-end; and for 2022, we are committed to consolidating on the strong start, surpassing our goals and targets, as we look forward to delivering stronger returns to our esteemed shareholders.

READ ALSO: UBA Publishes Names Of PTA Defaulters With Fake Tickets, Visas

Breaking down the figures, UBA’s Group Chief Finance Officer(GCFO), Ugo Nwaghodoh, said, “Our Q1’22 financial numbers show we are off with a good start. Particularly, I am pleased with how we deployed our balance sheet in the period to grow revenues and increase our market share in a number of West African markets. Driven majorly by interest from customer loans and our investments in long-dated instruments, we grew interest income by an unprecedented quarterly rate of 15 percent to N125.1 billion.

“We drove down our annualized cost of funds by 11 basis points to 2.1%. This was achieved despite the uptick in the interest rate environment in the period,” the GCFO said.

He expressed confidence that the bank will meet and surpass its target for the remaining three quarters of the year, adding that “We remain well-capitalized and liquid to fulfil our growth strategy, take up opportunities in key sectors, whilst navigating impending macroeconomic headwinds.”

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 touchpoints in 20 African countries. With a presence in New York, London and Paris, 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.

 

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BREAKING: After Subsidy Removal, NNPC Increases Petrol Price To Over N500

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Senator Withdraws Support For Tinubu Over Choice Of Muslim Running Mate
President Tinubu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on Wednesday adjusted the pump price of petrol by over 100% to between N488 and N557.

The development followed the announcement by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on Monday that fuel subsidy was ‘gone’.

However, it was learnt that the president will meet with organised labour from 2pm Thursday (today) afternoon.

The prices have now been adjusted upward from between N189 to N194 to N537 per litre in Abuja and other North-central States.

For Lagos and other South-west states, a litre of fuel now sells for between N488 and N500 per litre.

In the South-east, the price will range from N515 to N520, while in the North-west, the price of the product was raised to N540. In the North-east, it moved from N199 to N557 per litre.

For the South-south, it is now from N511 to N525 per litre. Nigeria’s subsidy budget of N3.6 trillion for this year, expires in June, 2023.

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BREAKING: FCMB Founder Olasubomi Balogun Dies

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Olasubomi Balogun

Theo Founderf First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is dead.

According to reports, family sources revealed that Balogun died in London Friday morning at the age of 89.

He was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland before his death.

As a ranking Ijebu Chief, his death will, however, only be officially announced in line with tradition.

 

 

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BVN Valid For Life, Has No Expiry Date- CBN

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CBN Appoints Officials, Confirms Nwanisobi As Communications Director
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has no expiry date.

According to the CBN, once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.

The regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions.

The CBN therefore urged Nigerians to disregard news on the expiration date for the BVN.

The bank stated that the BVN remains for life, as it has no expiry date.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Acting-Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin, reacting to claims of expiration by a national newspaper.

Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued in Nigeria remains for life and has no expiry date, citing that the claim was completely false, and urged advised bank customers to ignore it, he added:

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to reports suggesting that the Bank Verification Number issued by the Bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.

“Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date.

“Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life”.

He added that the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.

“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime.”

The number of bank account owners in Nigeria with Bank Verification Number (BVN) increased to 57 million as of April 9, 2023.

This was revealed in the latest BVN registration data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

However, the data showed that registration for the BVN has slowed since the beginning of this year despite the recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to close all bank accounts not linked.

At the end of 2022, the BVN database stood at 56.5 million. This shows that banks had recorded only about 500,000 new BVN registrations in the first three months of this year plus nine days in April. This is far lower than the average of 400,000 registrations per month recorded last year.

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