Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has assured its teeming shareholders and investors of even greater returns in the coming months, with the bank having established a diversified business model that ensures impressive performance even in periods of uncertainty, across its geographical network.
UBA Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu, who gave this assurance to shareholders at the 59th Annual General Meeting at the UBA Head Office, on Thursday April 1, 2021, explained that the bank has made strategic decisions that will strengthen its resolve to earn the industry leadership that it has envisioned in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
“We spearheaded strategic investments in our digital banking and technology platforms to further promote self-service banking; we have also focused on enhancing the capabilities of our people through various online capacity development programmes,” Elumelu added, “Our African operations (ex-Nigeria) have contributed approximately 55% of our profits for the year, illustrating that we are truly a Pan-African bank.”
He further explained that the bank remains committed to ensuring its viability amid an ever-changing business environment and to continue to be a role model for African businesses by showcasing the best of Africa to the world.
“The work we have done in strengthening our governance structures Group-wide and in improving our business and operating models in 2020 positions our bank to benefit from these recovery trends and to achieve significant market share gains across our operations,” he noted.
Shareholders at the meeting while approving the final dividend recommended for payment by the bank (UBA Plc) also commended the bank’s decision to plough-back some of its profits into business consolidation, adding that these times call for prudent and effective management of financial resources for all businesses especially those with high shareholding rate such as UBA.
UBA’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Uzoka, who responded to shareholders’ comments at the meeting spoke on the reduced dividend pay-out this year, explaining that the bank had decided to be conservative to further strengthen the business.
He said, “As an institution that has been in operations for 72 uninterrupted years, UBA wants to continue to perform optimally. In line with this, we have used most of our funds to prepare for unforeseen challenges. Given the trajectory and the resilience of our business, we can assure you that we will meet and surpass the expectation of you our shareholders.”
Continuing, he said, “We have recalibrated our business structure, starting from Lagos and extending to the South-South. We have bolstered them with the necessary leadership to achieve our aim. We believe that with these measures we have put in place, our Nigerian business will give the rest of Africa a good fight,” Uzoka said.
In a similar vein, United Bank for Africa Sierra Leone Limited held its Annual General Meeting at its Head Office Building on Charlotte Street on Tuesday April 6th 2021 where the Shareholders approved the audited financial statements of the subsidiary for the year ended December 31st 2020 submitted by the firm of Veritas Chartered Accountants.
The financial statement which has been submitted to Bank of Sierra Leone for approval shows that UBA Sierra Leone also made a significant contribution to the sterling performance of the UBA Group like other African subsidiaries. Specifically, as at month ended November 30th 2020, the subsidiary had recorded a PBT of Le115 billion and a total deposit of Le745.7billion in its management account compared to a deposit base of Le 472.4 billion as at December 2019 and PBT of Le75 billion in the 2019 Financial Year. This impressive performance was sustained by the subsidiary in the 2020 Financial Statement as at year ended December 31st 2020 awaiting approval from the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL).
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty-one million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points. Operating in 20 African countries with presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, 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.
