By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The London subsidiary of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has been given the permission to operate wholesome banking activities in the United Kingdom.
This makes the Africa’s global bank the only Sub-Saharan African lender to conduct banking operations in New York and London, as well as 20 other African countries.
As part of the transformation process, resulting from the authorization, the current name of UBA Capital (Europe) Ltd will change to United Bank for Africa (UK) Ltd.
In addition to a full suite of treasury services, cash management, corporate lending and wholesale deposit offerings to professional and eligible counterparties, the operations of United Bank for Africa (UK) Limited now extends to all aspects of trade finance; issuance, acceptance, confirmation and refinancing of Letters of Credit of different variations, including SBLCs.
With these, according to the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, Mr Kennedy Uzoka, the bank will strengthen its “capabilities in meeting the growing cross-border financing needs of our customers.”
He said further that the development “enhances our customer coverage and product offerings whilst positioning our group as an optimal conduit for trade and foreign investments into and across Africa as well as export flows to the United Kingdom.”
“Importantly, the licence will enable us to fulfill our aspiration of deepening financial intermediation in Sub-Saharan Africa and providing the much-needed financial support to the broader real sector of the African economy,” he added.
On his part, the chief executive of UBA UK Ltd, Mr Andrew Martin, said, “This enhanced positioning of our business is timely, as it comes at a time when the UK is seeking to expand trade and broaden economic ties with Nigeria and Africa in general.”
UBA is a leading Pan- African financial institution, offering banking services to more than 14 million customers across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 19 African countries.
The lender is connecting people and businesses across Africa with presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France.
