Banking
UBA Cuts Interim Dividend to 17 Kobo as HY’20 Profit Drops 22%
By Dipo Olowookere
The much-awaited half-year results of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc for the period ended June 30, 2020, have been released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The documents containing the financial status of the top Nigerian bank were released on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, a day after the company issued a statement that the results could be filed by month-end.
In the financial reports, the board of UBA recommended the payment of an interim dividend of 17 kobo for the period under review, 15 per cent or 3 kobo lower than the 20 kobo paid in the corresponding period of 2019.
From the brief analysis of the earnings done by Business Post, it was observed that the net profit of the lender went down by 22 per cent to N44.4 billion from N56.7 billion last year, while the pre-tax profit reduced to N57.1 billion from N70.3 billion, with the earnings per share (EPS) dropping to N1.24 from N1.62.
In the results, UBA said it had an interest income of N205.6 billion in the first six months of this year, higher than N204.9 billion recorded in the same period of last year. This slight growth was boosted by earnings from term loans and overdrafts despite a decline in revenue from bonds and treasury bills as a result of the low-yield environment.
However, the interest expense reduced to N86.3 billion from N94.8 billion in the first half of last year, while the net interest income rose to N119.3 billion from N110.1 billion.
The fees and commission income increased to N55.9 billion in the period under review from N52.3 billion just as the fees and commission expense jumped to N17.3 billion from N16.3 billion, with the net fee and commission income closing at N38.6 billion as at June 30, 2020, as against N36.1 billion as at June 30, 2019.
In the course of its business operations in the first six months of this year, UBA said it was involved in 846 legal cases, higher than 644 cases in the same period of 2019. It noted that the total amount claimed in the cases against the bank was estimated at N300.42 billion versus N472.04 billion in 2019.
During the period, investors traded a total of 3,523,723,566 units of UBA shares on the stock exchange, representing 10.3 per cent of the shares outstanding of the lender.
However, the share price reduced by 12.6 per cent in the period, closing at N6.25 per unit from N7.15 per unit as at December 31, 2019, reflecting the bearish performance of the local equity market, as signified by the about 8.8 per cent and about 21.0 per cent loss in the All Share Index (ASI) and the banking sector index respectively during the period ended June 30, 2020.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Sewa Capital Investment, an investment banking and financial advisory firm focused on supporting high-growth businesses across Africa, has made a strategic investment in Mathesis Analytics, a Nigerian financial technology company providing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered credit decisioning infrastructure.
The investment is expected to support Mathesis Analytics’ expansion drive for its AI-powered credit infrastructure in Nigeria.
Currently, Nigerian lenders face a critical structural gap: the fragmentation of verifiable consumer data makes it difficult to accurately price risk at scale. Mathesis directly addresses this bottleneck by aggregating disparate transactional and behavioural data into a real-time measure of creditworthiness.
The investment will support product development, institutional integrations, expansion of Mathesis’ lender network, and the strengthening of its data and technology infrastructure, a statement from the fintech firm stated.
By embedding this infrastructure, financial institutions can expand underwriting capacity, support more accurate risk-based lending decisions, and reach new market segments without compromising established risk thresholds.
For Mathesis Analytics, this investment represents an important milestone in its strategy to build Africa’s next-generation credit infrastructure to drive true financial inclusion.
Mathesis has already supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, providing a substantial operating base from which to deepen institutional adoption and expand into additional markets.
The company will leverage Sewa Capital’s backing to accelerate the expansion of its institutional footprint.
“At Sewa Capital, we are interested in businesses building the infrastructure that enables African economies to allocate capital more efficiently and inclusively.
“Mathesis Analytics is addressing a fundamental constraint in credit markets: the information gap that limits lenders’ ability to assess risk confidently.
“Its technology has the potential to expand responsible access to credit in Nigeria and, over time, across Africa. We are pleased to support the team through its next phase of growth,” the Managing Director of Sewa Capital, Ms Angela Jide-Jones, commented.
The chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Mr Winston Osuchukwu, in his reaction, said, “Credit inclusion begins with information visibility.
“Partnering with Sewa Capital accelerates the rollout of our infrastructure; equipping a wider network of lenders with the capabilities required to accurately evaluate risk and ultimately deliver credit services to previously excluded populations across the continent.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Eligible innovators, financial institutions, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), financial technology (fintech) companies, and technology firms have been invited to apply for the second cohort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Regulatory Sandbox Programme.
A statement signed by the acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department of the apex bank, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed that entries opened on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will close on Monday, August 31, 2026.
Cohort 2 of the initiative introduces two dedicated testing tracks to support emerging technologies with the potential to strengthen Nigeria’s financial system while upholding high standards of consumer protection, financial stability, and market integrity.
According to the central bank, the two tracks are VASP and Data-Enabled Financial Services (Non-VASP).
VASP track is to support innovative virtual asset, stablecoin, payment, settlement, custody, wallet, and related financial infrastructure solutions that require supervised live testing, while the non-VASP track supports innovations that leverage secure digital infrastructure and permission-based data sharing to improve financial inclusion, payments, credit, risk management, operational efficiency, and consumer outcomes.
The CBN Regulatory Sandbox provides a controlled environment in which eligible participants may test innovative financial products, services, business models, and enabling technologies under the supervision of the CBN.
The programme enables the CBN and innovators to engage constructively throughout the testing process, supporting regulatory learning while encouraging responsible innovation that benefits consumers and the wider financial system.
Eligible organisations whose proposed innovations fall within the programme’s scope are encouraged to apply.
Applications will be assessed based on the level of innovation, readiness for controlled live testing, potential consumer or market benefit, governance arrangements, risk management capability, and the suitability of the proposed testing plan.
Successful participants will undertake supervised testing within clearly defined parameters agreed with the CBN, including appropriate safeguards for consumer protection, operational resilience, cybersecurity, and regulatory reporting.
The central bank emphasised that participation in the scheme does not constitute a licence, authorisation, or approval to operate outside the approved testing parameters.
It noted that the Sandbox is intended to facilitate responsible experimentation, strengthen regulatory engagement, and support evidence-based policy development in line with the CBN’s statutory mandate.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The international spending limit on the GTBank Naira card has been increased by the financial institution to $40,000.
This information was revealed by the lender in an email to customers on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
The banking subsidiary of GTCO Plc disclosed that the new offshore spending limit is for a quarter.
This development comes as the Nigerian foreign exchange (FX) market is witnessing stability against the United States Dollar.
The forex volatility experienced a few years ago has eased, allowing companies and others to plan within a reasonable exchange rate band.
“The Dollar limit on your GTBank Naira Card is now $40,000 quarterly,” the tier-1 commercial bank said in the message sighted by Business Post.
Improvement in forex liquidity in the domestic FX ecosystem has allowed Nigerians to use their local cards to complete financial transactions on foreign platforms, which was not possible a few years ago because of Dollar scarcity and arbitrage.
At the official market on Tuesday, the exchange rate closed at N1,364/$1. It was exchanged at N1,367/$1 at the GTBank FX desk and N1,395/$1 at the parallel market.
