UBA’s assets soar 13.4% in Q1 to hit N6.4trn

By Omobayo Azeez

Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa Group (UBA) Plc has released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2020, showing double-digit improvement across all its major income lines.

The bank leveraged on modest growth in both interest and non-interest income as well as increased efficiency to deliver an impressive 8.5 per cent year-on-year growth in profit before tax in the first three months of 2020, to N32.7 billion compared with N30.2 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019.

Also, the bank sustained its profitability, recording an annualized 20 per cent Return on Average Equity (RoAE), this is according to the latest financials of the lender.

UBA also recorded a 11.8 per cent percent year-on-year growth in gross earnings to close at N147.2 billion for the three months ending March 2020, compared to N131.7 billion  recorded  in the first three months of 2019.

The bank’s total assets also rose by 13.4 per cent to N6.4 trillion in the period under review, compared to N5.6 trillion recorded at the end of the 2019 financial; while shareholders’ funds grew to N612.6bn from N597.9 billion in the same period.

Reacting to the result, Kennedy Uzoka, the group managing director/CEO of UBA Plc, expressed satisfaction with the bank’s performance in the first quarter of 2020, despite challenging business environment.

He said:  “We are pleased with our top and bottom lines in the first quarter of 2020, delivering  N147.2billion in gross earnings and profit before tax of  N32.7billion.

‘’The double-digit growth in the topline testifies to the resilience of our business model as a group, even as the 17 per cent growth in our fees and commission income underscores our diversified business model, enabling us to deliver best value to our stakeholders, even in tough macroeconomic scenarios.

“I am very excited about recent successes we have recorded in all our business segments, especially our retail and electronic banking businesses within the period, with retail deposits accounting for 72 per cent of customer deposits even as cost-of-funds moderates to 3.3 per cent.

‘’We will continue to grow market share in all our markets, whilst maintaining cost discipline across our businesses, driving efficiency in our processes using best-rated technology.’’