United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc stated yesterday that it wanted to attain a 20% Return on Average Equity (RoAE) in the 2023 fiscal year in light of its business expansion objectives.
According to the Pan-African Bank’s 2022 financial year report, RoAE increased from the projected 18% to 19.7%.
The Group reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N201 billion in 2022, up 31.2% from N153 billion in the previous year, and a profit after tax (PAT) of N170 billion, up from N119 billion in the previous year.
It produced gross profits of N853 billion, a 29.2% increase over the previous year. So, we were able to boost our operating income from N443 billion in 2021 to N591 billion, or 33.6%.
Speaking on the targets for this year, the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA, Mr. Oliver Alawuba during the Bank’s virtual “audited 2022 results conference call”, said despite the global headwinds across all markets, the management and staff are committed to doing more this year by driving up revenues across all major business segments, coupled with the relentless pursuit of efficiency Group-wide.
He assured that Bank would continue to proactively respond to issues in an innovative and ethical manner that tends to create value for all stakeholders.
He said the new executive management team has swung into action and revalidated its aspiration to become a leading financial institution in Nigeria, lead in Africa and ranked amongst the three most profitable Banks and a Systemically Important Bank (SIB) in all the countries in which it operates.
According to him, “We are positioned to take Africa to the world and bring the world to Africa through capital and investment funds flows.
“We also remain focused on simplifying trade and cross-border payment across the continent with UBA as one of the leading Banks championing the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), an AfCFTA agenda and brainchild of Afreximbank which is currently operating in six pilot countries in West Africa – Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Gambia.
“Collectively, we are committed to providing quality leadership, a conducive work environment for our workforce and excellent customer experience that will continually translate to improving the bottom-line and our shareholders’ value in the short, medium and long term.”
Speaking on 2022 performance, he said, “Despite volatile market conditions and many operational challenges, your Bank continued to deliver on key strengths built in the past years.”
He noted that with the overall objective of stimulating growth in the real sector, UBA grew its loan portfolio by N605 billion, or 21.4per 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 59.1per cent.
“In terms of capital adequacy, UBA boasts an excellent capital position with a Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 28.3per cent – well above the regulatory requirement of 15per cent.
“We are committed to delivering improved performances in the years ahead,” Alawuba said.
On customer, he said “Our primary business strategy is to continue to focus on the Customer – the ‘Undimployer’, while leveraging the key pillars driving our Customer First (C1st) 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, and ensure systems stability and reliable IT architecture to support our operations.
Going forward, he said, “we have harmonised our forward-looking commitments to drive excellent customer experience at all touchpoints, irrespective of the customer segment or delivery platform.
“Achieve top 3 ranking in a customer satisfaction survey, in all categories, in Nigeria and similar ranking in other subsidiaries; Always ensure zero tolerance to policy and regulatory infractions groupwide; Continue to focus on resolving all people-happiness related issues, including the deployment of new efficient Performance Management System to improve our reward management effectiveness and drive aggressive digital banking deployment and adoptio
