TheCable

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has announced a 5.99 percent growth in gross earnings from N428.7 billion in September 2019 to N454.4 billion in 2020.

The bank released its financial results for the nine-month period ending September 2020 to the investing public on Friday.

According to the report, profit before tax fell slightly compared to Q3 2019, from N98.2 billion to N90.4 billion while profit after tax stood at N77.1 billion; thus putting the annualised return on average equity at 16.4 percent.

The bank’s total assets grew to N7.1 trillion, a 26 percent increase from the N5.6 trillion recorded at the end of December 2019.

UBA also said shareholders’ funds grew by 9.6 percent to N655.3 billion from N598 billion recorded in December 2019, thus reflecting a strong capacity for internal capital generation and growth.

Commenting on the results, Kennedy Uzoka, UBA group managing director, said: “In spite of the current turbulence in the operating environment, occasioned by the global pandemic, we have continued to record significant progress in our business segments”.

“Our direct sales agents, agency banking network, and digital banking propositions have positioned us at the forefront of financial inclusion across geographies where we operate.”

Speaking on the expectations for the rest of the year, he said: “Whilst the outlook for the rest of 2020 is expected to remain challenging, our diversified model provides sufficient resilience, enabling us to continue to delight our customers with innovative banking products within our robust risk management framework”.

Also commenting on the bank’s financial performance, Ugo Nwaghodoh, UBA group CFO, said: “We achieved substantial growth in the underlying business, having grown loans by 15.6 percent (N2.4 trillion) and deposits by 35.7 percent (N5.2 trillion) within the period as interest and fee income from loans settled at N172.9 billion and N8.9 billion respectively”.

Uzoka said the bank has helped customers navigate the negative impact that COVID-19 pandemic has had on livelihoods, businesses and social life since March 2020.