By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A total of N93.44 billion was made as gross earnings by Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc in nine months ended September 30, 2016, the bank declared in a statement issued on Wednesday in Lagos.
In the statement, obtained by Business Post correspondent, it was disclosed that this represented an increase of 11.6 percent compared to N83.72 billion achieved in the preceding period of 2015.
Mr Emeka Emuwa, Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, attributed this growth to cost effective strategies introduced by the company.
In the financial result released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the bank revealed that its profit before tax stood at N13.28 billion against ₦9.56 billion it got in the preceding period of 2015, while the profit after tax reached N13.01 billion in contrast with N9.34 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2015.
Equally, its interest income increased to N70.96 billion from N66.907 billion in the preceding year, while total assets grew to N2.22 trillion from N1.05 trillion.
Also, Union Bank’s total liabilities grew from N802.97 billion to N961.12 billion during the period under review, but its interest expense was down by 14 percent to N22.8 billion against N26.5billion in the comparative period of 2015.
According to Mr Emuwa, “Our core pre-tax profits are up 27 percent to N12.4 billion from N9.8 billion during the same period in 2015, fuelled largely by interest income and our thriving retail business.
“We are encouraged by this performance which comes in the face of a recessionary environment, increased impairments and headwinds in our trade business due to scarcity of foreign exchange.
“Our steady effort to build a low cost, customer centric retail business over the past 18 months is demonstrating results and continues to win us a new, growing retail customer base.”
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale