The Banker Magazine has named United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc as the “African Bank of the Year 2017”. A statement from UBA said four of it’s Group’s operations in Africa also led contenders in their respective countries to emerge the Best Bank of the Year 2017 in their respective markets.
UBA Congo, UBA Tchad, UBA Gabon and UBA Senegal emerged the Best Bank of the Year in Congo, Tchad, Gabon and Senegal, “reinforcing the strong franchise of the Group across its chosen markets in Africa.” Notably, UBA Gabon and UBA Senegal won the same awards in 2016, as both subsidiaries of UBA Group remains the banks to beat in Gabon and Senegal.
A publication of the Financial Times Newspaper, The Banker Magazine is a global financial intelligence magazine that provides global bank ratings/analysis and it is the definitive reference in international banking for high level decision makers globally. According to the magazine, the aim of the award “is to highlight industry wide excellence within the global banking community. The winner is selected from participating banks in each of the 120 countries from which entries are received for the competition.”
Explaining the rationale behind UBA carting multiple categories in its December issue, the Banker’s Magazine noted that Africa’s economic landscape has been unpredictable in recent times, which resulted in recession in some of Africa’s best performing economies, while the region as a whole, only expanded by about 1.3per cent in 2016. “In these conditions only the most diversified and innovative of regional banks can prosper. And this is precisely why the United Bank for Africa (UBA) has scooped the 2017 regional winner award. For one, the lender registered impressive top-and bottom-line growth over the review period,” it noted.
The magazine enumerated the various achievements recorded by UBA group during the period, noting that earnings for the year reached N384billion ($1.07billion), signaling 22per cent growth from its 2015 performance while profit before tax also grew by 32 per cent, to reach N91billion. According to the organisers, “Equally impressive is UBA’s capital adequacy ratio, which at the end of 2016, stood at 20per cent, while its nonperforming loan ratio was a healthy 3.9 per cent. Operating across 19 markets in Africa, the bank serves more than 14 million customers.”
It added that the Pan-African bank’s foray into various ventures in Africa also helped to clinch its activities in the year under consideration, stating, “Beyond the numbers, the bank has won and acted on a number of headline deals.
These include the financing a new stadium in Douala, Cameroon, for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for $285m. In Senegal, more than $250m of trade finance was provided to the state oil company, while the lender acted as arranger and bank agent in the raising of $160m to finance road infrastructure. The bank’s digital tax collection solutions are also helping regional governments in Senegal and Burkina Faso.”
The organisers noted that UBA is making impressive strides in the digital space, adding that in terms of Internet Banking, the organisation processed 7 million transactions valued at more than N600bn in 2016.
“Mobile banking processed transactions valued at N70bn over the same period. UBA has also launched eMailMoni, a service that lets customers transfer funds via e-mail, while Chat Banking allows clients to perform basic transactions through social media platforms. “For these reasons, and others, UBA is the winner of our 2017 African Bank of the Year award,” the Magazine stated.
