New Telegraph

H1’24: Union Bank Records 20% Growth In PBT

Despite the challenging environment, occasioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) intervention in January 2024, which led to heightened customer concerns, Union Bank of Nigeria has reported a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N79.8 billion on gross earnings of N333 billion during the half year ended June 30, 2024 compared with a PBT of N66.5 billion on gross earnings of N210.5 billion during the corresponding period of 2023, representing a growth of 20 percent in profit before tax and 58 percent in gross earnings.

Commenting on the results, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Yetunde B. Oni, said: “I am pleased that Union Bank of Nigeria has delivered a progressive financial performance in the first half of the year, with a significant boost in Net Interest Income, Net Operating Income, and Net Trading Income.

“At the beginning of the year, our top priority was to keep the momentum going with a strong focus on stability following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

We also continued with the planned strategic priorities, which are centred around scaling our digital play, driving hypergrowth in target sectors, optimising our wholesale bank structure, aggressively ensuring recoveries of past-due obligations, and orchestrating a robust ecosystem play through existing and new partnerships.

“So far, we are seeing the direct impact of our strategy on our financial performance. We achieved a substantial increase in Gross Earnings by 58 per cent toN333 billion compared to N210.5 billion in H1 2023.

Net Operating Income after Impairments increased by 32 per cent to N143.6 billion from N108.5 bn in H1’23, attributed to enhanced interest income, fees, commissions, and margin expansion.

Similarly, we achieved PBT of N79.8 billion, representing 20 per cent growth compared to N66.5 billion in H1’23. “In pursuit of our strategic priority to scale our digital play, Union Bank successfully launched its digital lending platform, UnionKash.

This platform enables existing and new-to-bank customers to access soft loans easily. Since its launch in the first quarter of the year, over 14,000 customers have successfully accessed soft loans through the USSD code *826*41#.

“These achievements reflect the remarkable resilience and dedication of our staff, who have been instrumental in navigating the challenges of a demanding operating environment.

Despite the pressures of inflation, exchange rate volatility, and increased operational costs, our team has remained steadfast and committed to delivering excellence.

I extend my sincere appreciation to all our employees for their hard work and unwavering dedication, which have been critical to our success in the first half of 2024.

“I also want to express our deep gratitude to our customers, whose loyalty to the Union Bank brand has been unwavering. Their trust and continued patronage have been vital to our success, and we remain committed to serving them with excellence.

Additionally, we acknowledge the invaluable support from our regulators as we navigated the complexities of our operating environment. “In line with the realities of our environment, the bank has initiated the process of recapitalisation.

The Banking Sector Recapitalisation Programme, introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), mandates banks to increase their minimum paidin common equity capital to a specified amount by April 2026, per their license category and authorisation.

This strategic initiative is not only aimed at aligning our capital adequacy with regulatory standards but also at surpassing them, thereby fortifying our financial stability and positioning us to capitalise on emerging market opportunities.

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