UNION Bank has indicated steady revenue growth in its audited financial statements for the year ended December 21, 2021, as it posted a 8.9 per cent increase in the revenue of the company.
Driven by strong non-interest income, the bank’s gross revenue for the year 2021 increased to N175 billion as against N160.7 billion recorded in Full Year (FY) 2020.
According to the financial statement released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), non-interest income went up 26.7 per cent to N55.7 billion as against N44.0 billion recorded in FY 2020 as the bank made significant increases in debt recoveries.
Net operating income after impairments went down 3.6 per cent to N99.7 billion from N103.4 billion in FY 2020.
Meanwhile, profit before tax went down by 19.3 per cent to N20.5 billion from N25.4 billion recorded in 2020, while operating expenses grew marginally by 1.5 per cent to N79.1 billion as against N78.0 billion made in FY 2020.
Gross loans went up 22 per cent to N899.1 billion as the bank expanded its lending to key economic sectors of opportunity, just as customer deposits of the bank went up 20.4 per cent to N1.4 trillion, owning to the continued expansion of product base and digital channels.
Speaking on the results, Emeka Okonkwo, Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank said following an enhancement to the operating and go-to-market model to deliver better performance and efficiency by leveraging the network across the regions, the bank is increasing its customer engagement and product penetration which is translating into higher customer revenues across geographies.
“On the back of this, the bank has continued to record headline growth by diversifying our income streams and accelerating our recoveries programme.
“We continued our strong growth in non-interest income through a combination of aggressive recoveries, which grew 119 per cent in the period, from N7.2 billion to N15.9 billion and further growth in fee and commission income and e-business. These were delivered on the back of sustained multi-channel growth in users, volume and value across our digital and agent channels. Total active UnionMobile users now stand at 3.3 million, up 20 per cent while our Union360 customer base grew by 22 per cent to 26,400.
Looking ahead, Okonkwo noted that in 2022, the bank would continue to focus on broadening and deepening the strong foundations it had built, while enhancing digital delivery platforms and service propositions to customers.
“We remain deeply thankful to our erstwhile core investors, Union Global Partners and Atlas Mara who have been instrumental to our journey since 2012. Their invaluable support and expertise helped steer the bank through turbulent waters and into an era of growth and stability.
“As we turn a new chapter for our bank with a new core investor expected to come on board, we are proud of the solid foundation built over the last 10 years and look forward to a seamless transition and continued successes in the future, ” Okonkwo said.
Speaking on the FY 2021 numbers, Chief Financial Officer, Joe Mbulu noted that the bank maintained very strong cost controls during the year despite the inflationary pressures and the translation effect of currency depreciation on the cost base.
“Operating expenses increased marginally by 1.5 per cent with increasing regulatory, depreciation and amortisation costs. Customer deposits grew by 20 per cent while our loan book grew by 22 per cent from N736.7 billion to N899.1 billion, as we deepened support for key sectors in the economy.
We have remained proactive in the way we manage our growing risk assets, maintaining our asset quality during the year with our NPL ratio growing marginally from 4.0 per cent to 4.3 per cent,” Mbulu said.
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