AS its shareholders applauded its 2015 fiscal performance, the management of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has expressed optimism that the bank would sustain the significant improvement this year despite the harsh operating environment.
According to its Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, the bank would form synergies across its operations to grow its market share and create new opportunities.
His words: “We duly note the challenging operating environment and intensifying competition. However, we see opportunities amid these challenges and we will leverage our unique platform in building ‘economic moat’ for UBA in the African banking industry. We will further extract synergies across our operations to grow our share of existing market and create new opportunities”
Oduoza, who stated this at the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) Friday in Lagos, explained that the management rigorously identified and eliminated fats in the system, improved on contract negotiations, eliminated overlapping functions and structures and continued to leverage technology in its operations, particularly in servicing its over eight million customers through low cost service channels, which ensured that it delivered improved performance to shareholders in 2015.
Earlier, Tony Elumelu, its Chairman, told the shareholders that the bank’s strong performance in 2015 reflects efficiency gains, prudence and best practice in risk management.
He stated: “We recorded N315 billion in gross earnings, a 10 per cent growth when compared to 2014 performance. This was achieved in spite of relatively weak liquidity in the Nigerian foreign exchange market, which reduced foreign currency related business and income lines. Our bank offset the macroeconomic challenges with improved customer service and balance sheet efficiency”.
Elumelu further told shareholders that the bank successfully managed its cost through the year, “thus preserving earnings to deliver a profit before tax of N69 billion, which translates to 22 per cent growth over our performance in 2014.”