Banking
H1 2018: UBA Delivers Double-Digit Growth in Gross Earnings
**Declares Interim Dividend of 20 Kobo Per Share
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Leading financial institution in Africa, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) on Wednesday released its much-awaited audited 2018 half year financial results, showing strong growth across key performance metrics as well as a significant contribution from its African subsidiaries.
Despite declining yield environment in two core markets, Nigeria and Ghana, the pan Africa financial institution delivered double digit growth in gross earnings, as it recorded a 16 percent year-on-year rise in top-line to N258 billion, compared with N223 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Business Post reports that this performance underscores the capacity of the lender to deliver strong performance through economic cycles, even in a challenging business environment.
According to the report filed to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) this evening, UBA reported strong growth in operating income at N168.5 billion, in contrast to N161.8 billion in the first half of 2017, an increase of 4.1 percent.
Notwithstanding the inflation-induced cost pressure in the period, UBA finished the first half of the year strongly with a Profit Before Tax of N58.1 billion.
The Profit After Tax also improved to N43.8 billion, a 3.4 percent growth compared to N42.3 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2017. The first half of the year profit, translated to pre-tax and post-tax return on average equity of 23 percent and 17 percent respectively.
UBA’s foreign operations continue to grow in importance, contributing 40 percent of the financial institution’s profit, attesting to the benefit of UBA’s pan-African strategy and reinforces its objective of achieving 50 percent earnings contribution from offshore subsidiaries.
In the first six months of the year, the UBA’s Total Assets grew 4.9 percent to N4.27 trillion and Customer Deposits rose by 6.1 percent to N2.90 trillion, compared with N2.73 trillion as at December 2017.
This growth trajectory underlines UBA’s market share gain, as it increasingly wins customers through its re-engineered customer service and innovative digital offerings.
The bank’s Shareholders’ Funds remained strong at N496.3 billion, even as implementation of IFRS 9 impacted the total equity of the bank and its peers.
In line with its culture of paying both interim and final cash dividend, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc declared an interim dividend of 20 Kobo per share for every ordinary share of 50 Kobo each held on the qualification date – Wednesday, September 05, 2018.
Commenting on the results, the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, said, “Our performance in the first half the year reflects the resilience of our business model and strategies.
“Despite declining yields in two core markets, Nigeria and Ghana, we delivered double digit growth in gross earnings. Our performance demonstrates the success of our digital banking initiatives and broader Customer-First strategies.”
“We are integrating banking to our customers’ lifestyle, simplifying processes for routine transactions and driving financial inclusion by making banking services accessible and affordable.
“We are creating opportunities for wealth creation and economic progress, as we empower our customers through innovative platforms and solutions that support their personal and business growth.
“Our commitment to delivering excellent service is paying-off, as we increasingly win a bigger share of customers’ wallet across our chosen markets. We won the highly coveted ‘Africa’s Best Digital Bank’ Award by Euromoney, demonstrating our pioneering initiatives are being recognised with Leo, our digital banker having been name checked by Mark Zuckerberg,” Mr Uzoka added.
He said further that, “Our enhanced asset-liability management strategies improved asset yield and grew interest income by 21 percent despite prevailing yield environment.
“Our re-engineered sales structure provided the impetus for renewed retail deposit growth. I am particularly pleased by the 24 percent year-to-date growth in retail savings and current account deposits, underpining the increasing penetration of our digital offerings and the Group’s overarching goal of democratizing banking across Africa.
“We improved net interest margin to 7.4 percent in line with our 2018 target, notwithstanding strong competition for wholesale deposits and the impact of rising global interest rates on our foreign currency funding.”
Also speaking on UBA’s financial performance and position, the Group CFO, Mr Ugo Nwaghodoh, stated that, “We finished the first half of the year in a stronger position and we are optimistic on the future of our business.
“Amidst economic recovery and uncertainties in Nigeria, our largest market, we grew net interest income and operating income by 9.6 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.
“We doubled revenue from trade services and grew e-banking income by 24 percent, a testament to our market share gain, which is driven by innovative offerings. Our foreign operations contributed 40 percent of Group’s profit, underlining the benefit of our Pan-African strategy.
“We sustained our asset quality, with cost of risk at 0.8 percent. Whilst the loan book declined by 6.5 percent due to prepayments from some customers in Nigeria and Ghana, we grew the overall balance sheet by 5 percent in the first half of the year. The Group’s capital adequacy ratio of 23 percent, Bank’s liquidity ratio of 48 percent and loan-to-deposit ratio of 57 percent all reinforce our capacity to grow, with ample headroom for risk asset creation,” Mr Nwaghodoh said.
In recognition of UBA’s dominance in Africa’s digital banking space, UBA emerged the Best Institution in Digital Banking across Africa, courtesy of Euromoney.
Earlier in the year, UBA launched Leo, an e-chat service using artificial intelligence to help customers execute transactions on Facebook, the first of its kind in Africa. The Bank is set to replicate the success of Leo on WhatsApp on September 1st, bringing convenience to its growing youthful customer base across Africa.
UBA is one of Africa’s leading banks with operations in 20 African countries. It also has presence in the global financial centres; London, New York and Paris. UBA provides banking services to more than 15 million customers globally, through diverse channels.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn