The United Bank for Africa on Wednesday said that it grew its loan portfolio by N605bn in the 2022 financial period.
The bank disclosed this on Tuesday during its audited 2022 results conference call (Strategic review and outlook), which was addressed by the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba.
Alawuba told investors during the event that the growth in UBA’s loan portfolio was in line with the overall objective of stimulating growth in the real sector.
He said, “We grew our loan portfolio by N605bn, or 21.4 per cent, from the prior year. We continue to maintain a close focus on cost efficiency and strictly control operating expenses across the Group, including our new strategic investments. Consequently, our reported cost-to-income ratio stood at 59.1 per cent.”
In terms of capital adequacy, UBA says it maintained a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 28.3 per cent, which was above the regulatory requirement of 15 per cent.
The bank also expressed its commitment to improving performance in the years ahead, adding that the feats accomplished were done despite volatile market conditions and many operational challenges it faced during the financial year.
In the current financial year, Alawuba said that it would be driving revenue up across its business segments, as well as focusing on its customers.
He said, “Our primary business strategy is to continue to focus on the customer – the ‘undisputed employer’, while leveraging the key pillars driving our customer first philosophy i.e. people, process and technology, in delivering positive experiences across all our touchpoints – physical and virtual.
“In addition, our dedicated workforce (People) is very critical to us. We will constantly strive to simplify and streamline our processes, ensure systems stability and reliable IT architecture to support our operations.”
Alawuba added, “Despite the global headwinds across all markets, we commit to doing more this year by driving up revenues across all major business segments, coupled with the relentless pursuit of efficiency group-wide.”
