Unity Bank Grows Customer Deposits, Pledges Innovative Digital Banking Services

By Dipo Olowookere

The managing director of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Tomi Somefun, has promised customers of the financial institution innovative digital banking services.

She made this pledge while reacting to the financial statements of the company for the period ended September 30, 2023, where the lender grew its customer deposits by about 5 per cent on a year-to-date basis to N344.4 billion from N327.4 billion in December 2022.

Mrs Somefun attributed this to the competitive products Unity Bank offers customers, as the company drives initiatives to ramp up transactions as part of its strategy for the short and medium term.

“This also means that the Bank enjoys market confidence, which will enable the institution to thrive better in the months ahead with increased business conversion, profitability and growth needed to achieve sustainable returns,” she said.

Analysis of the results by Business Post showed that the retail lender recorded gross earnings of N38.2 billion, lower than the N42.3 billion achieved in the third quarter of 2023, with net interest income going down to N9.5 billion from N14.5 billion, indicating a decline of 35 per cent.

The bank also recorded a decrease in its fee and commission income to N4.4 billion from N5.3 billion, as the FX trading income went down to N314.2 million from N340.0 million, with a forex revaluation loss of N38.2 billion versus an FX revaluation loss of N54.0 million in the same period of last year.

This led to a net operating loss of N23.6 billion versus a net operating income of N22.6 billion, and with jumps in the personnel expenses, and other operating costs, the total operating expenses went up by 19 per cent to N24.2 billion from N20.4 billion, leaving Unity Bank with a pre-tax loss of N47.9 billion compared with a pre-tax profit of N2.2 billion.

At the close of business on September 30, 2023, the bank was left with a loss after tax of N47.9 billion compared with the profit after tax of N2.0 billion in the same period of 2022.

However, Mrs Somefun expressed optimism that Unity Bank would bounce back into profitability and shake off the forex revaluation loss suffered in the period under consideration as the Naira appreciates in the currency market.

She also said, “The bank is seeing encouraging uptake in its digital Banking services and with expansion envisaged in the pursuit of enhanced retail franchise, fintech partnership, consumer banking and other innovative retail loans as well as diversification of portfolio investment, the outlook remains one of optimism.”